Hi! I'm Kyle Ingham from The Distilled Man.
And up next we're going to talk about
one of the classic cocktails, the Martini.
So the Martini has been a staple of
American cocktail culture since the 1800s when it was invented.
And just how it is was invented or where it was invented, is still kind of up for debate.
You know one of the stories says that it was invented in San Francisco in a bar.
Another says that it was invented in New York in a bar.
Yet another story goes
that got its name and was invented by
an Italian vermouth manufacturer, named Martini, which you now know as Martini and Rossi.
But my favorite story about the
origin of the martini takes place in a
little town in California called Martinez.
And the story goes that a miner
in 1849 or thereabouts, came through
Martinez because he had just struck gold
and he wanted to celebrate.
So he goes straight to one of the main bars there
and says, "Bartender, give me some champagne."
He wanted to celebrate.
And the bartender's like,
"Come on, like look around we don't have any champagne,
but we have something better.
It's called the Martinez special."
And what he proceeded to whip up, it almost
sounds like he just kind of threw it together based on what he had.
So it was Maraschino Liqueur, some bitters, some gin, some vermouth and a slice of lemon.
So whether or not he was trying to kind
of put one over on the miner
or not, it doesn't really matter because the miner
loved it and he proceeded to tell everybody
across California essentially how great this drink was.
And pretty soon, news of the Martinez spread like wildfire.
And gradually, I think probably,
I'm guessing after many slurred attempts
at ordering it, the Martinez became the
Martini and it's probably around the same time too, that the recipe was
simplified to just being what it is now
which is gin and vermouth.
Now, the martini was a really popular drink
during Prohibition, partly because gin
was so easy to make compared to whiskey
which of course, requires aging.
Now a couple things to clear up about the martini
before we go any further.
Number one, the martini is made with gin.
And so if you want something with vodka and it.
If you want a martini with vodka, you do have to request a vodka martini.
Some people aren't totally clear on that.
Number two, even a dry martini does have some vermouth in it.
There's a lot of bartenders out there that will serve
chilled gin and call it a dry martini.
But you know what, in my opinion that's just
chilled gin. And if that's what you want to drink, fine, but don't call it a martini.
Although, I still am very amused by
the story of Winston Churchill, who
apparently hated vermouth so much that
he had a legendary martini recipe that involved him observing the vermouth
across the room while he drank his chilled gin.
Now the ratio of gin to vermouth
has been in constant flux since the drink was really invented.
Now, around the turn of the 20th century the ratio was actually more like 1:1.
So equal parts vermouth, equal parts gin.
Now, around the thirties and forties, shortly after
prohibition the ratios changed to around
3:1 or 4:1, gin to vermouth.
And then in the late 20th century there was almost like a revolt against vermouth.
Which sucks because it's not, it's not a bad thing.
Vermouth is not bad.
And some of the drinks that were being made,
the dry martinis, were like fifty to one, or a hundred to one.
So they were barely putting any vermouth in their martinis at all.
Some of the bartenders would just swirl it around on the glass throw it out,
and then put the chilled gin in there and call it a martini.
But again it was maybe
a little too dry for my tastes.
Well, so let's look at how to make it.
Okay, so what you're going to do is
you're gonna first start start with your martini glass filled
with a little bit of water and some ice.
And you're going to set that aside to chill.
Then what you want to do is take your mixer with a little bit of ice in it,
and put a little bit of gin it.
About 2 and a half ounces.
Then we're going to take some vermouth.
Do about half an ounce, really not too much.
Add that in.
And you want to stir this for...
15-20 seconds, maybe even longer.
The idea is really to chill the gin and the vermouth.
Okay, shaken vs stirred.
You've seen any Bond movie, you know that James Bond
always ordered vodka martini shaken not stirred.
But, you know he was kind of an oddball
because I don't think that's really the
best way to have a martini.
And there's a couple reasons for that.
I mean, how you prepare your cocktails is your business.
If you have a certain preference that's totally fine.
But I think there are three reasons why you should not shake your martini
and why you should stir instead.
Number one, when you shake it what you're
doing is actually breaking off small
pieces of ice and you're diluting the
drink a little bit more than you really should.
Number two, when you're shaking
the gin vigorously like that
what you're doing is actually disrupting some
of the essential oils in the gin itself.
The thing that gives it not only its flavor,
but also gives it its texture.
And so you're actually changing the mouth-feel of the gin.
And finally, number three,
when you shake it,
with that vigorous action you are actually making
the drink a little cloudier.
And I think one of the charming things about a martini is,
it's just so pure and so clean and crisp.
And even the visual reflects that
when you when it's done right because it
is a clear, clear drink.
Alright, then we'll pour out our water.
It's nice and cold.
See?
What we want to do is strain out...
There we go.
Now for garnish you can either use olives, or you can use lemon.
And I actually really like lemon.
So what I'm going to do, is do a little
lemon twist using this little divitted
lemon twist maker thingy.
Rub that around the edge.
There we go.
And you have your martini.
Very refreshing!
Definitely recommend you try at home.
If you do give it a try, please let me know how it goes in the comments.
Cheers!
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