Why is Martini the most iconic drink?

Make Martini with your friends while learning about its origin!

Origin of the Martini

Like many iconic drinks Martinis origin story remains a mystery, but the most relevant story comes from Barnaby Conrad The thirds book called The martini: An illustrated History of an American classic. The story goes likes this: "During the days of "gold rush", in 1849, a miner struck it rich and was returning to San Francisco. While returning, Martinez was the first big town he came across. He walked into the best bar on Montgomery Street, threw a gold nugget on the table and asked a Legendary bartender Jerry Thomas to make him a special drink... the bartender served him a drink which he called " Martinez special". After waking up the next day he proceeded on to San Francisco where he immediately went to a prominent bar and ordered a "Martinez Special" as he previously liked it very much. The bartender of course had never heard of the drink and asked the miner how it was made and where he had heard of the drink. The miner said that the drink was made with one part of very dry Sauterne wine and three parts of Gin, stir with ice and finish with an olive and was made in Martinez. And soon it got so popular that the drink was introduced to every bar all around the USA. But name martini came from drunk people who couldn't pronounce the name Martinez so they called it martini which later became the name."

Martini became world sensation, it got so popular that people started creating variations of it, but there is only two ways to make the classic martini.

p.s. martini is a James Bonds favorite drink so you should know how to make it!

Dry martini

1. Rock or Cocktail glass
2. fill up the shaker with ice
3. Add dash of dry vermouth
4. 2 oz. of gin or vodka
5. Shake and strain into the glass
6. Olive or lemon twist garnish

Extra dry martini

1. Rock or cocktail glass
2. Fill up the shaker with ice
3. A few drops of dry vermouth
4. 2 oz. of gin or vodka
5. Shake and strain into the glass
6.Olive or lemon twist garnish

( generally it is considered that extra dry martini is made with a few drops of dry vermouth, but the best recipe is to fill up the glass of ice with lot of dry vermouth , then strain vermouth out and add vodka or gin, this is the best way to make dry vermouth as ice keeps the flavor of vermouth and makes best extra dry martini! )

Other than regular ones these three are the most common types of martini

apple martini

1. Cocktail glass
2. Fill up the shake with ice
3. 1/2 oz. apple pucker
4. 2 oz. of gin or vodka
5. Splash of sour mix
6. Shake and strain into the glass
7. Cherry or apple garnish
( As a bartender it doesn't sit right with me to use cherry garnish in the apple martini as it breaks the definition , so i strongly suggest using an apple )

chocolate martini

chocolate martini

1. Cocktail glass
2. Fill up the shaker with ice
3. 1 1/2 oz. vodka
4. 1/2 oz. dark Creme de cacao/ Godiva
5. Dash of cream
6. Shake and strain into the glass
7. Rim the glass with cocoa powder or add chocolate peel or both
( one advice i will give people is to never use the cocoa powder in chocolate martini because, when you serve martini cold, cocoa powder becomes liquid and drips down, it will be messy if you do! )


lemon drop martini

1. Cocktail glass
2. Fill up the shaker with ice
3. 1 oz. vodka
4. 1/2 oz. triple sec
5. 2 oz. sweet & sour
6. Shake and strain into the glass
7. Rim the glass with sugar
( depending on how you like your lemon drop martini ,you can switch the amount of vodka and sweet & sour, so vodka can be 2 oz. and sweet & sour 1 oz. If you like it strong)

For Martini lovers, here is the top 10 most famous Martini variations YOU should know how to make!