SHAKEN OR STIRRED, GIN OR VODKA, DRY OR SWEET, THE CLASSIC MARTINI REMAINS THE COOLEST COCKTAIL.
WORDS BY KRISTIN HARMEL
There is perhaps not a more classic—nor more stylish—cocktail than the martini. Traditionally made with vermouth mixed with gin or vodka, or imaginatively dressed up with chocolate liqueur, cranberry juice or any of the scores of ingredients filling martini glasses in recent years, the drink is, for many, the epitome of sophistication. From James Bond’s classic shaken-not-stirred martini to the contemporary cosmopolitan favored by “Sex and the City” lead Carrie Bradshaw, the beverage in the signature stemmed glass has become a mainstay of pop culture and a style icon all its own. “It’s very trendy, and it has remained trendy for 150 years,” says Count Luigi Rossi, whose great-grandfather, also named Luigi Rossi, invented the Martini & Rossi vermouth that has become synonymous with the traditional martini. “You can consume it with friends, before a meal or out on a happy moment. It has always been considered a product that goes with the happy side of life.” Historians say there’s no way to tell exactly who invented the martini or how it was named, but the stories abound. “The most popular ones are untrue or unlikely,” says cocktail historian David Wondrich, Esquire magazine’s drinks correspondent and the author of Killer Cocktails (HarperCollins, 2005). “The history of booze is history that gets made up in a bar. It’s plagued with frequent blackouts and a lot of exaggeration.” One popular theory is that the cocktail was invented in (and named for) the town of Martinez, California, but Wondrich says that there’s no evidence of this and that the first claim took place 75 years after the fact. Another popular theory is that it was invented by Jerry Thomas, the author of several bartenders’ guides, in 1863. But the recipe only appeared in revised versions of his guides, years after his death, making this story unlikely, too. Chances are that the origins of the martini’s name, at least, are tied in with Martini & Rossi vermouth, which was first produced in Italy in 1863 and exported to the United States four years later. By 1877, says Count Rossi, three-quarters of the vermouth imported into the US was Martini & Rossi. Others claim it was named for a judge named Martine, and indeed, some of the earliest incarnations of the drink called it the “martine.” According to Wondrich, the first martini cocktail was likely made in the early 1880s. It first appeared in a bartenders’ guide in 1884. “My best guess is that it was invented in New York, around the same time as the Manhattan, because they were basically the same drink, but one used gin with vermouth and one used whisky with vermouth,” says Wondrich. “Vermouth was the hot ingredient of the 1870s and 1880s. There are a bunch of early accounts of the cocktail from New York, so that makes me pretty certain that’s where it started. However, nobody claimed it at the time, which is very weird. So we don’t know exactly where it came from.” The earliest incarnation of the martini might not be what you’d expect. When one thinks of a classic martini today, dry vermouth is a mainstay ingredient. But the martini of the 1880s and early 1890s instead used sweet vermouth and was often garnished with a cherry. Then, in the mid-1890s, dry vermouth quickly moved in as the preferred counterpart to gin. “Up until Prohibition, it was usually made with equal parts dry vermouth and gin with a dash of orange bitters,” Wondrich says. “When Prohibition came, there was less and less vermouth because people couldn’t get it. They focused on the booze, because that was easier to make; so there was less vermouth being used, and people got used to that—and it became a macho thing.” By the end of Prohibition, says Wondrich, the vermouth shortage had created a new martini— three or four parts gin to one part vermouth, instead of the pre-Prohibition half-and-half formula. “Then it got drier and drier,” Wondrich says. “The macho thing really kicked in after World War II. It was macho to drink a martini with very little vermouth. The 1950s man was pretty tough.” The gradual move away from vermouth also assisted in the rise of vodka as an alternative to gin in the classic martini cocktail. “If you’re drinking straight booze, a whole glass of gin can be a bit hard to take,” Wondrich explains. “Vodka started tasting better. Plus, vodka was just a chic thing, and because it was Russian, it had a bit of Cold War danger.” Through the 1950s, vodka sales were growing at around 400 percent a year, and much of that was due to the martini cocktail. In the 1960s, James Bond’s classic “shaken not stirred” vodka martini also helped spike the drink’s popularity.
In the hippie days of the mid-1960s, the popularity of the martini cocktail began to wane. But by the late 1980s, when the new yuppie ideal began to reject the hippie values of the ‘70s, the martini began a resurgence that hasn’t stopped since.
“The last years have been wild for cocktails in general,” says Wondrich. “The martini has come to mean anything in a martini glass.”
This is a phenomenon that Count Rossi—and other drink purists—take some issue with.
“The International Bartenders Association, who are an authority, have established that the right formula for a martini cocktail should be about 20 percent dry vermouth,” Rossie says. “The other recipes are not true martini cocktails.”
Bars with 30+ “specialty martinis” have sprung up all over the country, and many restaurants have made “martini menus” part of their upscale charm. Key lime martinis, chocolate martinis, cosmopolitans and apple martinis are some of the most popular,
“They’re getting people used to cocktails,” Wondrich says. “They’re like training-wheel drinks. They’re generally light, fruity and pleasant. The hardcore classic drinks don’t taste like anything but themselves, so those take a little while to learn.”
Fortunately for the integrity of the classic martini, consumers are starting to embrace the traditional formula once again.
”In the past, the worst part of the restaurant experience was often the drink you got while waiting, Now people are starting to care, and they want a good drink. They’re starting to realize that our grandparents weren’t so dumb. People are realizing that a properly made classic cocktail is a very, very beautiful thing.”
CLASSIC MARTINIS
Martini bars abound across the country. Here are some of our favorites: NEW YORK PEGU CLUB “One of the best bars in New York,” says Wondrich. Their house martini is the classic martini, and they do it splendidly. 77 W Houston St, 2nd Fl 212-473-PEGU www.peguclub.com DALLAS SEVERINE’S WINE AND MARTINI BISTRO This martini bar near the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport serves up a full list of martinis. Try the Presidential or the Robert Begnini. 621 E Southlake Blvd 817-310-6060 www.severines.com WASHINGTON, DC OZIO RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE This hip party location offers a happy hour with half-price martinis. The Ozio martini is vodka or gin—straight up—with feta-stuffed olives. 1813 M Street NW 202-822-6000 www.oziodc.com LOS ANGELES CAMEO BAR AT THE VICEROY HOTEL A beautiful beachside retreat in Santa Monica perfect for martini-sipping and star-spotting. Try the bar’s pomegranate martini. 1819 Ocean Ave 310-260-6185 www.viceroysantamonica.com CHICAGO THE MARTINI BAR Sweets lovers will revel in martinis such as the Snickertini and the Tootsie Roll martini. Traditionalists will enjoy the Quintessential Martini. 401 South LaSalle 312-377-6111 www.themartinibarchicago.com