The martini is an
old drink - one of the oldest mixed drinks around. The original name of the 'martini' was the '
Martinez' or '
Martinez Cocktail'. One instance dates back to 1862 and was made with four parts of red
vermouth and one part
gin - the
garnish was a cherry. For those who are familiar with the modern martini, this will sound rather odd, the original martini was a very sweet drink. The gin used at the time was
Old Tom Gin which had a much more distinct taste of
juniper berries in it. Over time, the Old Tom Gin was replaced with the more familiar flavor of
London Dry gin, and white (dry)
vermouth replaced the red (sweet)
vermouth. Furthermore, the proportions moved to 1:1.
In 1887 a bartending book printed by Jerry Thomas of San Francisco had the Martinez recipe as:
- dash of bitters
- two dashes of Maraschino
- wine glass of Vermouth
- two lamps of ice
- pony of Old Tom Gin
- Garnish with a quarter slice of lemon
One source lists this originally happening in 1849 in the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco for a miner with a small gold nugget on the way to
Martinez.
In 1870 (another source says 1874), Julio Richelieu's saloon
on Ferry street in Martinez, California (the city that claims the birth of the martini) claims the origins of a drink for a miner who was difficult to satisfy. After several attempts he produced a drink with gin, vermouth and an olive and named it after the town.
Another story of the origin of the drink refers to the Martini and Henry rifle used by the British army between 1871 and 1891, supposedly both the drink and the rifle had a strong kick. One should note that this story is accepted only in Britain.
The drink that we most recognize as a martini is from
Steward's Fancy Drinks and How to Mix Them by Thomas Stewart published in New York in 1896 which listed a drink named the Marquerite as:
The word 'martini' first appeared in print in New and Improved Illustrated Bartending Manual published by Harry Johnson in 1888.
The most recent account of the Martini name comes from 1911 at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York where the head bartender was named Martini di Arma di Tagga who mixed equal parts London Gin, Noilly Prat Vermouth and added some orange bitters. This drink was chilled and then strained into a chilled glass. Upon this basic the regulars at the bar asked for variations.
During the 1920s within North America with prohibition, the martini gained popularity because of the ease of making gin (like in a bathtub). The cocktail glass that is familiar today is claimed to come from this period also allowing for one to drink quickly (three gulps) in case the speakeasy was raided by the police.
One of the great debates of today is how much vermouth should be added to the drink. Obviously, the original drinks were a bit sweeter than what people drink today. Some claim that the amount of vermouth should be the bartender saying the word "vermouth" in the vicinity of the glass. The Winston Churchill Martini is described as 3 parts gin and a glance at the bottle of dry vermouth. Slightly less dry has the bartender passing the bottle over the gin to allow a drop or two of vermouth to fall into the glass. Other methods include pouring the vermouth into the shaker with ice and then pouring it out, allowing for only a light coating of the ice. The pub that I frequent has the vermouth poured into the glass with ice (to chill the glass) while preparing the gin. Once the gin was ready, the vermouth and ice were poured out of the glass leaving a slight coating.
Some purists claim that only the martini is that of the gin and vermouth mixed drink. Others have tacked the name "martini" on to most anything that goes into a cocktail glass regardless of prime ingredient (vodka has become rather popular). As abhorrent to the purists as this may seem, when considering the Martini di Arma di Tagga version of the origin of the drink - an "apple martini" would the basic drink with vermouth substituted for apple schnapps or similar flavored liquor. Not quite the abomination that it is made out to be.
Confusing the issue of 'what is a martini' somewhat, is that one of the brands of vermouth is the Martini & Rossi that is made in Italy. The web site for this company is http://www.martini.com/. From this the 'vodka martini' popularized by James Bond would be vodka and Martini brand vermouth, which may make more sense.
http://www.cocktailtimes.com/hist_cocktails/martini.html
http://www.partyinapail.com/martini_history.html
http://www.mixology.com/MY2K/Features/content_my2k.htm