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Gin, stirred

Martinez

Barline 1h,1,h,q,1,1,co

The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.

Stir with ice until cold, then strain.

Coupe, orange twist.

Open in the menu

Taste

An ounce and a half of gin against a full ounce of sweet vermouth and a half of dry, so the wine is wet and split. A quarter ounce of maraschino is cherry pit and almond, and one dash each of orange bitters and Angostura keep peel and bark in the mix. Stirred, coupe, orange. It drinks as a gin Manhattan with both vermouths and a cherry film.

History

O.H. Byron prints the Martinez in 1884 The Modern Bartender's Guide as "Same as Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whisky," on a page with two Manhattan formulas. Jerry Thomas's posthumous 1887 Bar-Tender's Guide gives the first full spec: a pony of Old Tom gin, a wine-glass of vermouth, two dashes of maraschino, a dash of Boker's bitters. The California stories, Jerry Thomas at the Occidental and Julio Richelieu in Martinez, stay unproven. This menu pours an ounce and a half of gin, both vermouths, a quarter of maraschino, and one dash each of orange bitters and Angostura, coupe, orange.

Same shape, other bottles

The Martini family, with the bottle that changed.

This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.