Recipe

• 2oz gin of choice (I used Tanqueray)
• .5oz dry vermouth (or your vermouth ratio of choice)
• Olives (Castelvetrano olives are seriously the BEST – so buttery)

STIR with ice and strain into an ice cold coupe glass.

About

Today is National Martini Day so let’s talk about the martini. The drink of choice for that classic, no-nonsense, stiff libation. The classic was originally made with a 2:1 ratio of gin to dry vermouth and as time went on, the trend gradually favored the drier (less vermouth) creations. The gin:vermouth ratio was increasingly raised, to 3:1, 4:1, 6:1, 12:1, 50:1…and I think this quote from English playwright Sir Noel Coward pretty well captures the public’s dwindling interest in vermouth in a martini: “A perfect Martini should be made by filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy.”

As the public taste continued to change, the martini evolved to incorporate vodka in place of gin, and next thing you know, anything served in a martini glass became referred to as a martini – apple-tinis, cran-tinis, choco-tinis. Taste is definitely subjective so drink and enjoy what you like, but do note that the brilliantly neon sweet cocktail you’re sipping on is not really a martini – may save some confusion in situations where a classic dry gin martini is served.

For some more sophisticated classic and modern martini variations, check out these recipes.