Martini glasses by Deacon crafted of 24% lead crystal. The bowl of the glass features an elegant, hand-cut swirl pattern. Sold singly, with matching champagne flutes, double old-fashioned glasses and martini shaker.

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June 2006

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cocktails

The Classic Martini & Others

Shaken Or Stirred, Mix Dad A Martini  

With the legions of fancy cocktails creating “cocktail menus” at every fashionable establishment, Dad may wish to follow Agent 007 and have a basic martini for Father’s Day—”shaken, not stirred,” a variation called a Bradford. A word of explanation for the classic line: the traditional way to create a martini is to mix all of the ingredients in a mixing glass, not shake them in a cocktail shaker, so as not to “bruise the gin” (the shaking action breaks up the ice and adds more water, slightly weakening the drink and altering the taste). Evidently, martini-drinkers take their mixology seriously: W. Somerset Maugham declared that, “Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other.”

As vodka ascended in the 1980’s as a America’s favorite spirit, more people today replace the gin with vodka. The basic recipe is below, along with some lesser-known variations. Ironically, the beverage associated with the fictional British icon is an American original. As with many things, there are different attributions to the origin. One widely-accepted account says the martini is a descendant of the Martinez, an older, sweeter, but similar cocktail that originated in California in the 1870s, made with gin and sweet vermouth. A cocktail recipe book, The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them, copyright 1907,  gives the recipe for Dry Martini Cocktail from a Los Angeles bartender. Made with gin and dry French vermouth, served with lemon peel and an olive, this recipe included two dashes of but otherwise is similar to a modern martini. The first reference to a vodka martini in the U.S. occurs in 1951 in a cocktail recipe book, Bottoms Up, by Ted Saucier.

The martini’s popularity waned along with all cocktails in the wine-and-spritzer-focused seventies, but reclaimed prominence in the late eighties and nineties, when newly-popular vodka, abetted by the Absolut vodka advertising campaign, replaced gin as the base spirit. Popular variations proliferated: the green apple martini, the chocolate martini, and so forth: specialty menus featuring more than a hundred varieties of “martinis” exist from coast to coast.

• The dry martini was formerly called The Silver Bullet because it “is clear, potent and never misses its mark.”

Classic Martini

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 ounces gin
• 1/2 ounces dry vermouth
• Green olive or lemon twist for garnish

Directions

• Pour the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes.
• Stir well and strain into a chilled martini glass.
• Add the garnish.
• For a dry martini, reduce or eliminate the vermouth. (Eliminating the vermouth in a vodka martini essentially creates “vodka on the rocks with a twist.”)

Martini Variations   Dirty Martini: Add a small amount of olive brine to the mix. 50-50: Use equal parts of gin and dry vermouth. Gibson: garnish with a cocktail onion. Perfect Martini: Equal parts of sweet and dry vermouth. Vodka Martini: Replace gin with vodka.

Photo courtesy of Grey Goose.

Which did James Bond drink? In the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, his recipe is specified as three measures of Gordon’s gin, one measure of Russian or Polish vodka, and half a measure of Kina Lillet aperitif, shaken until ice-cold, and with a large, thin slice of lemon peel for garnish. This variation is properly called a “Vesper,” after his love interest in the book. By the second novel, Live and Let Die, Bond was drinking vodka martinis, a trend that continued when 007 moved to the screen in 1962.

Favorite Martini Glasses

With color-coded martini glasses, you’ll be able to find yours!

Crosstown Grande Martini Glasses by Circleware have assorted colorful bubbles in the heavy sham, which gives them style plus the ability to “find their owner.” Click here for more information or to purchase.	Mini Martini Glasses by HomeWetBar. Each 3-ounce crystal martini glass is a different color so that everyone can find his drink. Click here for more information or to purchase.	Vina Martini Glasses by Libbey have a 12 ounce capacity, and are dishwasher-safe even though they look like delicate stemware. Click here for more information or to purchase.

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