Spirits: Entire Unexpurgated history of the Martini

Well, actually, the entire title of my blog article was "The Entire Unexpurgated History of the Marini Cocktail...in Eight Glasses, describing the seminar I and my friend, bartender Nathan Gerdes, will be conducting at the upcoming Society of Wines (and Spirits!) Educators Annual Conference in Seattle on August 15th.

We'll be tasting eight different evolutionary evocations of the iconic "Martini" cocktail.

The first challenge was limiting it to eight glasses (because even the most dedicated can only drink so much in such a short length of time).

This is what we (eventually) came up with:

The Martinez 1864
The Manhattan 1872
The Martini 1888
The Dry Martini 1896
The Gibson 1898
The Rockefeller Martini 1911
The Vesper 1953
The Extra-Dry Martini Circa 2014

And I bet a bunch of you don't know what some of these drinks are.

The second challenge was to figure out how the hell to prep and deliver eight cocktails within an hour to follow the narrative, while being true to the tenets of separately batching each cocktail in the proper way. But we figured it all out.

If you're further interested, here's the article I just posted:
http://violentfermentation.blogspot.com/2014/08/so-im-looking-for-interesting-topic-for.html

Feel free to comment, here or at the blog because I can always use the traffic, on which cocktails you would and would not have included if you were King. Keeping in mind that I am actually the King, of course.

Interesting that you included the Vesper. Did the Dirty Martini figure into the discussion at all?

Interesting that you included the Vesper. Did the Dirty Martini figure into the discussion at all?

Nope. We thought about the dirty martini, but we decided not to go there. Also decided not to frou-frou around with bleu-cheese stuffed olives and all that stuff. (FYI, the only dirty martini I drink is in Red Square, a martini bar in Las Vegas,where they (well at least then, I haven't been lately) make their dirty martini with Prince Dolgoruki Vodka (YES!) and huge blue-cheese olives. They also have a loooong ice bar---literally that, a long bar topped with a solid layer of ice. Cool place.

We decided on the Vesper for a couple of reasons: one, it is such a well-known and iconic drink, and well in keeping with the evolution and development of the martini; two, it is a great example of how a drink "evolves", or even mutates or morphs, into something else, and how easy it is to modify a simple three component drink endlessly by substituting; three, because it got in the whole concept of using vodka with gin, which of course leads inexorably to the "vodka martini"; and four, it's actually a precursor for the "flavored martini"...which allowed us to get away from things like the Cosmo and others; and five, the use of Lillet (then Kina Lillet) is actually a retro touch, going back to the days when bitters were a major component in the martinis of yore. (And actually, we thought about using Cocchi Americano instead of Lillet, because supposedly it's more akin to the bitter "Kina" of the past than perhaps Lillet is today. But we decided to stay with the original recipe.

And the Vesper fit into the "time line" we needed to show evolution and mutation as well.

During the work up, some one (I won't name names) said, "Don't you guys have to end up with either the Espresso Martini or the Chocolate Martini"? What we instructed him to do was not nice.

I do like the use of the Vesper as a bridge into some of the other martini-type cocktails.

I mentioned the Dirty Martini only because it seems to have been around a while and survived. I'm not much of a martini guy, though, so I don't think I've ever actually had one.

The chocolate, espresso, and wildly fruity versions are non-starters.

I do like the use of the Vesper as a bridge into some of the other martini-type cocktails.

I mentioned the Dirty Martini only because it seems to have been around a while and survived. I'm not much of a martini guy, though, so I don't think I've ever actually had one.

The chocolate, espresso, and wildly fruity versions are non-starters.

The Dirty Martini has been around for a while. It's actually associated more often with vodka than gin---which just may be because if you use a flabby vodka, or a cheap vodka without any real flavor, so you really are just drinking neutral spirits, then you by god need some flavor, and tipping some of the brining juice of the olives into the drink makes sense---because it's adding some actual flavor to what would otherwise be a pretty blah drink.

The whole trend of the vinegar drink and the brined drink is coming back, once again, into vogue. The Pickleback made its swing through the trendy set...although you gotta work real hard for me to take a Whiskey Pickleback. If the whiskey's good, why in the (#*$* would you chase it with pickle juice? But there are also now some pretty damn tasty pickle brines marketed as that (McClure's comes to mind most immediately; it's great), some garlicky, some hot and spicy. And brining up the Bloody Mary has become a thing, and it's okay.

But the thing that started here in Portland, drinking vinegars, a la Pok Pok, has registered big time. Now the're selling some selected drinking vinegars retail and they're popular (drinking vinegar is really quite refreshing and thirst quenching, especially if you get the right balance of fruit and tartness). And at Pok Pok they make drinking vinegars and drinking vinegar-based alcoholic drinks that are very popular. Adds both a nice flavor and a nice texture to a drink.

It would be fun to taste through those 8 drinks!

[Jenise]

But the thing that started here in Portland, drinking vinegars, a la Pok Pok, has registered big time. Now the're selling some selected drinking vinegars retail and they're popular (drinking vinegar is really quite refreshing and thirst quenching, especially if you get the right balance of fruit and tartness). And at Pok Pok they make drinking vinegars and drinking vinegar-based alcoholic drinks that are very popular. Adds both a nice flavor and a nice texture to a drink.

I have heard of the Pok Pok drinking vinegars but have not tasted nor really understood what they are--your relating them to a brine a la a dirty martini puts them into perspective. And to relate, I only have to think of all the juices that accumulate in the bottom of a bowl of a marinated tomato or cucumber (or both, with or without onion) salad, which I make a lot in summer, and usually drink when the solid pieces are gone--it's the purest essence of the salad.

"Hearts full of youth, hearts full of truth, six parts gin to one part vermouth."

- Tom Lehrer, "Bright College Days"

But the thing that started here in Portland, drinking vinegars, a la Pok Pok, has registered big time. Now the're selling some selected drinking vinegars retail and they're popular (drinking vinegar is really quite refreshing and thirst quenching, especially if you get the right balance of fruit and tartness). And at Pok Pok they make drinking vinegars and drinking vinegar-based alcoholic drinks that are very popular. Adds both a nice flavor and a nice texture to a drink.

I have heard of the Pok Pok drinking vinegars but have not tasted nor really understood what they are--your relating them to a brine a la a dirty martini puts them into perspective. And to relate, I only have to think of all the juices that accumulate in the bottom of a bowl of a marinated tomato or cucumber (or both, with or without onion) salad, which I make a lot in summer, and usually drink when the solid pieces are gone--it's the purest essence of the salad.

Re the drinking vinegars, Jenise, you're on the right track. Don't think of drinking vinegar, or the vinegar you'r thinking about. Think of drinking a refreshing, cool, iced drink with a little bit of tartness from the vinegar, diluted with a pure fruit juice, so the tart-sweet thing is there, refreshing without in any way being cloying. It's kinda the same principle of using tamarind in cooking, or hot-sour soup, only in a liquid refreshment.

At Pok Pok what they do is list their vinegars on the chalkboard, so whenever a batch is ready,when the fruit has been macerated and steeped with the vinegar and its all fresh and lively and bright, then they pour it over a tall glass of ice. It's pretty good stuff.

In Roman days it was customary for the legionnaires to be issued wine mixed with vinegar for the march. Quenched the thirst better than water ever could (and water was dangerous anyway), didn't inebriate, and was invigorating. I tried it once, and it was palatable and thirst-quenching. But then, I'm one of those kids who could sit and snack on an entire jar of dill pickles while reading or watching tv, so I was a little weird.

Very fine thread so talking about cocktails has anyone here heard of the Sour Toe Cocktail from the Yukon?

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/09/ ... -cocktail/

Fascinating recall of times past. I don't think I have had a Martini, or Noilly Prat, for years in any guise for many years. It can make a very good drink. In my youth, gin and Italian and gin and French were ubiquitous cocktails. The only time I got really drunk to the extent of having a memory gap was on gin and French at a regimental cocktail party some 50 years ago. To this day I think that the mess steward fixed my drinks to give that effect .

Drinking vinegars have been around for a long time, and were popular during colonial times in America, as a way of preserving fruit. They have been making a comeback as a great cocktail mixer or a non-alcoholic refreshment. I love making shrubs with raspberries, peaches or other short season summer fruit. Fruit syrups are great, but they have a relatively short shelf life compared to a shrub.

Joy, a friend of mine, with whom I've shared a lot of tables at spirits and mixology shows, operates a small, local company called Sage & Sea Farms that specializes in shrubs, and she makes some great ones too.

http://www.sageandseafarms.com/

She mostly local sources, forages, visits local farms and such, on a constant search for products and ideas for her shrubs and switchels and drinking vinegars, and quite a few of my bartender friends use her products.

Well done as always, King Hoke!

So I'm stymied by the inclusion of Manhattan. I know it was originally a "Martinez with whiskey" but it really took off on such a different tangent away from the Martini...staying "sweet" vs. Martini going dry, drier, driest. What points do you make for the Martini progression here...or is it just "from the Martinez came two main paths"? I think I'd rather go directly from Martinez to 1888, then dry with bitters, dry no bitters, but that's just me.

my guesses on the recipes....
Martinez: 1:2 inverted OT gin to sweet vermouth with bitters and maraschino
Manhattan: are you doing a 50/50 here? I know Byron's 1884 dry/sweet variations but not this 1872
Martini 1888 (I'm assuming this is Harry Johnson's 50/50 OT gin/sweet vermouth w/Bokers, gum, and curacao?)
Dry Martini: 2:1(?), 1:1(?) london dry/dry vermouth and bitters..I've seen both ratios attributed to late 1890's. Olive?
Gibson: 1:1 ratio(?) As above but no bitters...with an olive (that pesky onion didn't come into vogue until the 1910/20's, right?). Not sure when the more modern day 5:1 ratio happened. Maybe when the pickled onion dropped in?
Rockefeller 50/50 dry/dry with orange bitters and a twist and olive
Vesper: shaken not stirred
Extra Dry: 7:1? Noel Coward whispers of vermouth?

My favorite ratio is still 3:1 (which DeGroff calls "Nick and Nora" but I don't think 1930's history supports that ratio for the era).

Love the addition of the Vesper. This is an important drink. I was in a bar not long ago in Ft Walton Beach. The menu had a "James Bond Martini" and listed "Kina Lillet" as an ingredient in the recipe they were serving. It was regular Lillet, not some long lost bottle.

We tried to follow a timeline that was pretty much accepted/verifiable/supportable by archival information. My list originally had the Negroni on it, but that didn't really jibe with the timeline. Why Negroni? And why Manhattan? Because, to a bartender, as you know, Bill, the Martini, Manhattan, Martinez, Negroni are essentially all the same basic drink, with just changeup of ingredients and ratios (evolution).

"my guesses on the recipes....
Martinez: 1:2 inverted OT gin to sweet vermouth with bitters and maraschino Standard Jerry Thomas here.
Manhattan: are you doing a 50/50 here? I know Byron's 1884 dry/sweet variations but not this 1872 The one we found mentioned was 2:1, ango, cherry, up.
Martini 1888 (I'm assuming this is Harry Johnson's 50/50 OT gin/sweet vermouth w/Bokers, gum, and curacao?) Yep; you got it.
Dry Martini: 2:1(?), 1:1(?) london dry/dry vermouth and bitters..I've seen both ratios attributed to late 1890's. Olive? “Stuart’s Fancy Drinks and how to make them” in 1896. Attributed to Wayne Collins, it was composed of “2 jiggers of gin, ¾ jigger dry vermouth, ¼ jigger Cointreau, and 2 dashes of bitters”
Gibson: 1:1 ratio(?) As above but no bitters...with an olive (that pesky onion didn't come into vogue until the 1910/20's, right?). Not sure when the more modern day 5:1 ratio happened. Maybe when the pickled onion dropped in? Bohemian Club SF version--seemed to be the best supported. No curacao. Onion---hey it's the identification point of the Gibson, and info is now that it was already entwined into the idea of the Gibson long before it was fixed in the Flapper age.
Rockefeller 50/50 dry/dry with orange bitters and a twist and olive Yep, Knickerbocker. Because when you're that rich, you can have it both ways if you want. And John D. did love him some martini.
Vesper: shaken not stirred But of course. Most documented drink there is, courtesy of book and movie(s). Only trouble we had was, stay with Lillet, or because of Kina Lillet versus Lillet of today, go with Cocchi Americano? We went back and forth but settled on Lillet
Extra Dry: 7:1? Noel Coward whispers of vermouth?

My favorite ratio is still 3:1 (which DeGroff calls "Nick and Nora" but I don't think 1930's history supports that ratio for the era).
This point occasioned more polite professional debate than any offer. And there's no real debate, because it's all over the place with no real standard other than personal what the ratio should be. Finally, we went with the David Wondrich-supported ratio by the fiery Mr. Albert Trummer: 4:1
Love the addition of the Vesper. This is an important drink. I was in a bar not long ago in Ft Walton Beach. The menu had a "James Bond Martini" and listed "Kina Lillet" as an ingredient in the recipe they were serving. It was regular Lillet, not some long lost bottle. I put the Vesper in. Figured we had to have it, really, because...well, how could we not? Also, it fit the time line perfectly (which the Negroni did not). And I agree with you about the importance/significance."

Great story also about the Kina Lillet. Having spent a coupe of years grunging around Ft. Walton Beach (Air Force at Eglin) and realizing that in some ways FWB can be a place that time forgot, it seems perfect for the place. In the day we used to hang around a beach dive bar called the "Faux Pas"---but the locals all knew as the "Fox Paws".

You should be teaching this seminar, Bill. Hey, get the Phoenix CW people to pay some attention and Nathan and I will come down and do one of these then.

Joy, a friend of mine, with whom I've shared a lot of tables at spirits and mixology shows, operates a small, local company called Sage & Sea Farms that specializes in shrubs, and she makes some great ones too.

http://www.sageandseafarms.com/

She mostly local sources, forages, visits local farms and such, on a constant search for products and ideas for her shrubs and switchels and drinking vinegars, and quite a few of my bartender friends use her products.

That is quite a vast list of options on her website, including many items I would have never thought of when making a shrub. Thanks for sharing!

"And why Manhattan? Because, to a bartender, as you know, Bill, the Martini, Manhattan, Martinez, Negroni are essentially all the same basic drink, with just changeup of ingredients and ratios (evolution)." That works for me! Just interested in your thought pattern.

I'm surprised of the ratio of the 1896. That is pretty fascinating that they got to nearly 3:1 that early in history...Although the Cointreau does add sweetness back in so maybe it's not that surprising.

I'd love to see this (and you!) come out to PHX. It would fit perfectly into the USBG educational emphasis. Going to pass on your link to the Chapter and see what happens. Maybe even as a seminar during AZ Cocktail Week (the USBG leadership and AZCW leadership have some good overlap).

Yup, I've spent many years going down to FWB. Even ran an office down there at one point. Place That Time Forgot is a good way of putting it! First place I saw (and frequented) a drive-thru liquor store, that would pour you a 28oz beer in a stryo Coke cup, complete with lid and straw for fooling the Smokies. (Robinson's Cruise-Thru).

Speaking of shrubs, just made a strawberry/cardamon shrub loosely following Neyah White's guidance in Jeff Morganthaller's new book. Came out quite lovely. I went with Bragg cider vinegar for the first time and that really stepped up the vinegary quality and depth from the regular cheapo apple cider vinegar I had used in the past.

Extra Dry: 7:1? Noel Coward whispers of vermouth?
My favorite ratio is still 3:1 (which DeGroff calls "Nick and Nora" but I don't think 1930's history supports that ratio for the era).
This point occasioned more polite professional debate than any offer. And there's no real debate, because it's all over the place with no real standard other than personal what the ratio should be. Finally, we went with the David Wondrich-supported ratio by the fiery Mr. Albert Trummer: 4:1

That surprises me more than any other, just because the ratios I see are super, super lean. 5:1 seems like a minimum, and I've seen what looks like 10:1 or less, something like a teaspoon of vermouth to a couple ounces gin. Martinis are something I don't order out much, since it's a fuss to get them the way I like, about 2-3:1, but that's just what I've observed in an admittedly small sample of SF restaurants.

Anyway, I'm very sorry now that I can't make the retrospective.

A man goes into a bar and says to the bartender, "How do you mix your dry martinis?"
The bartender says, "I pour a glass of gin, bend over it, and whisper 'vermouth'".
The man says, "Excellent! I'll have one."
The drink arrives and the man takes a sip. He turns to the bartender and says, "Loudmouth!!".

A college friend of mine told me that his father mixed martinis by leaving the gin and vermouth bottles next to each other on the shelf in the liquor cabinet. He relied on molecular diffusion to impart the correct amount of vermouth in the gin.

-Paul W.

Walt, there's a lot of foolishness around the whole ratio thing in an Extra Dry Martini. Usually it's just an attempt to sound cool (doesn't work) or to impress a bartender (really doesn't work). If you want straight gin, just tell the bartender you want straight gin.

Pro bartenders, who concern themselves with balance and proportion, experiment a lot with the ratio, and each has his own thoughts. Also depends on large part on which gin you use. And which vermouth.

The recipe we're using is based on what a whole bunch of the 'best and brightest' bartenders and spirits experts think is the best ratio. David Wondrich, Dale DeGroff, and people of that ilk.

And still, the only ratio that matters is the one you like.

Paul, that's a good joke I hadn't heard before.

Unfortunately, it's also representative of how some bartenders make a martini. A Hoke says, there's nothing wrong with a glass of chilled gin and an olive, but if that's what I wanted I would have ordered it!

Hoke, given that the gin tends to be stronger both in flavor and alcohol, it's understandable that a naive drinker might prefer a "wetter" version. I get that. However, naive drinkers don't drink martinis at all, unless you count the often execrable "flavored" variations, so to me the whole matter is moot.

Paul, that's a good joke I hadn't heard before.

Unfortunately, it's also representative of how some bartenders make a martini. A Hoke says, there's nothing wrong with a glass of chilled gin and an olive, but if that's what I wanted I would have ordered it!

Hoke, given that the gin tends to be stronger both in flavor and alcohol, it's understandable that a naive drinker might prefer a "wetter" version. I get that. However, naive drinkers don't drink martinis at all, unless you count the often execrable "flavored" variations, so to me the whole matter is moot.

Yep. Moot. Or should be. If you 'r a martini drinker, easiest think in the world is to specify your drink. Bartender, a martini, Tanqueray, 5 to 1, two olives. The bartender will appreciate it.

Posted a followup blogpost to this subject just now.

The seminar was conducted and was a huuuuuuuge success. The participants loved it.

The major takeaways were

--while some people had heard of the Martinez pre-cursor, the great majority of the people had never had one. And for the most part they liked it (although some thought it too sweet.)

--the evolutionary shift from sweet vermouth with liqueur base of the martini to dry vermouth without bitters or liqueurs was intriguing.

--the Vesper was, as always, popular. We made a spur of the moment decision to mix up two versions---one shaken, one stirred. That way we could talk about the differences that each process makes for the cocktail. And it's a big difference.

Here's the link if you're interested. (And I give a link in the article to the WLDG too, just to be fair.)
http://violentfermentation.blogspot.com/