A Martini is Made with GIN!
Ladies and gentlemen, a martini’s primary ingredient is gin. If this is a revelation for you, please start taking notes. It is not a Russian concoction or some sort of frou-frou cocktail served in a weird-looking glass. A martini is comprised of 3 parts gin, 2 parts sex appeal, 1/2 part decades of tradition and maybe a bit of vermouth depending on your taste. Throw in an olive or 3 for color. There is no vodka in a “martini”…
When did it become commonplace for a customer to have to specify that they want a gin martini? Is it Sex and the City’s fault? Should I blame those under-dressed, overpaid, middle-aged tramps of the early 00’s for this ridiculous vodka craze? Is it because people think the suffix “-tini” means smaller so a lesser base alcohol should be used? Or is it because the taste of vodka can be so easily masked that you can make an apple-tini, choco-tini, peach-tini, coffee-tini, diesel-tini, etc and still pretend to be sophisticated?
The history of the martini is a subject of great debate, but this much is agreed upon: it is an American cocktail made with the finest British gin, a top-shelf Italian vermouth and the freshest Spanish olives. The Russians and the Swedes have no part in this wonderful recipe. Everyone from Winston Churchill, Cary Grant, Ernest Hemingway, James Bond and Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed a martini; the way it was meant to be. With those lovely notes of juniper and the slight bitterness of vermouth, a hint of olive; all served ice cold.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am perfectly fine with the concept of a vodka martini. As long as that is what it is called. But to assume that anything called a “martini” contains vodka is simply unacceptable. The “vodka martini” is the mutant; the aberration of what a martini actually is. Therefore, it must be referred to in specificity:
“Could I please have a vodka martini?”
or
“I’ll have an Absolut martini, please.”
or
“Can I have another pomegrani-tini, please? <hiccup>…
Do my highlights make me look fat?”
So please, if you are a bartender or waitperson: when someone orders a martini, please assume they mean gin or ASK for clarification. You and your tip-total will be glad you did.
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