How to make the Gin cocktail with Vermouth

The Martinez is the missing link. The point halfway. It is both stylistically and chronologically a child in the environment, a cocktail It belongs comfortably in the “Forgotten Classic” category, which is a kind of hilarious euphemism given the famous brothers and sisters.

The chronology takes place like this: American barmans are getting their hands on vermouth in the 1870s approximately. THE Manhattan is invented shortly after, which is whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters. Then a few years later, we have our first overview of Martinez – “identical to Manhattan, only you replace you Gin For whiskey, ”writes Oh Byron in The modern bartender guide In 1884 – it was therefore Vermouth and Bitters again, but this time with gin and a touch of liqueur. Then later comes the MartiniGin again, but with the softer Italian vermouth replaced by a French vermouth (“dry”). So that's. Simple, right?

Zoom out, yes. Like all evolutionary deadlines, at a sufficiently distant distance, it is clear where the distinct stops are located along the way, and everyone agrees on the order of their invention and their identities at a large stage. A Martinez is halfway between a Manhattan and a Martini.

When you zoom, however, it is a huge mess – at the time, these delimitations, in particular between Martini and Martinez, would have been so fluid that they were completely meaningless. The Gin, for example, would have initially been the type of white malted white whiskey (called “genever”) in the following books, you will find Genever, Old Tom Gin and London Dry Gin Interchangeable. Then there is the Vermouth: a Martinez uses a gentle Vermouth, which is uncontrollable, but what about the period of two decades in the 1920s and 30s where several recipe books explicitly called the dry Vermouth, which makes Martinez just a Martini with a little sweetness. And what sweetness – Curaçao, marasquin liqueur or gum syrup? Sometimes, which is obviously a Martinez was called Martini (or, just to be boring, “Martine” or “Martigny” etc.). It is a phone game that extends over 60 years, a rat nest to disentangle which is, as a bonus, also tedious and ultimately out of words. To cite no less an authority than David Wondrich in his history book of cocktails defining the genre Drink: “It really doesn't matter – how mixology was practiced at the golden age, trying a combination was to try them all.”

The Martinez is therefore a unique cocktail only with hindsight. This is an evolutionary step towards what we know now as Martini, but in the fullness of time, we have come to consider it distinct and delicious to justify his own identity – that you may have never heard of it is not an act of accusation of his quality, just of the curse of being the average child between the absurdly famous brothers. Correctly built, a Martinez is in a plush with an Italian vermouth but still thorny with gin, taking advantage of the culture of the diamond of a martini but with the luxury in silk of a manhattan. More than Martini or Manhattan, Martinez evokes this golden age, an echo of a long era spent in the quantity of vermouth and the unusual character of the marasquino. I always find myself wanting to have one in the spring, when it is somehow hot and cold simultaneously and you do not know how to dress, and when things between the intermediaries seem good.

Martinez

Add all the ingredients to a glass to mix with ice and stir for 15 to 20 seconds. Place in a coupé or a cocktail glass and garnish with lemon skin.

Notes on the ingredients

Gin: If you have a bottle of old Tom Gin, it's now time to use it. Hayman and Ransom are very different, but each one makes a stellar Martinez. As you probably don't do, unless you are a big fan of cocktails, I'm not sure I recommend buying a bottle just for that – the increased richness of the old Tom was very welcome, but no better than Tanqueray or Tanqueray 10 or Monkey 47 or Hendrick to justify a trip to the store.

Sweet Vermouth: This is the big choice and will have the biggest impact on your final product. Personally, this is where I think something like Dolin Sweet Vermouth really shines. It is lighter and leaner and helps keep sweetness in check. For me, a Martinez is at its best when the Vermouth forms about half of the volume of the drink but does not overcome sweetness. I thought Carpano Antica was good too, but maybe a little too powerful for this purpose.

Maraschino liqueur: Used a quarter of an ounce at a time, this will bring a funny accent and necessary for experience. Luxardo is the flagship brand, but it is used in such small quantities, really all the slumps you can find will be great.

Orange bitters: Be spared. I missed them when they weren't there, but you always want a light touch – a dashboard will do it. As for the brands, honestly get everything you can get. No brand of Orange Bitters is held so large on others that it is worth a special trip for (I wish that this is not the case, but alas), so here is my advice: in a perfect world, for this particular drink, I would use orange orange floral bitters for bitter queens for its orange and chamomile notes. In the real world, use what you have.