Cold London dry gin laced with just enough dry vermouth, stirred to a silky chill and poured straight up, the Martini drinks bone-dry, crystal clear and austere, with juniper out front and the vermouth only rounding its edges. A twist of lemon peel sprays bright citrus oil across the surface (an olive brings a briny edge instead), and the result tastes like a Martinez stripped of its sweetness and maraschino.
Garnish: Lemon Peel
Stirred · Nick & Nora · Up
add
Add the gin and dry vermouth to a mixing glass filled with ice.
stir
Stir well until thoroughly chilled and diluted.
strain
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
express
Express the oils from a lemon peel over the surface; garnish with the twist, or substitute a green olive if preferred.
No single inventor stands behind the Martini; the competing stories point to a Martinez-style forerunner poured at San Francisco's Occidental Hotel in the 1860s, to a Knickerbocker Hotel bartender in New York around 1911–12, and to the Martini vermouth house as a possible source of the name, while William Boothby put a "Dry Martini Cocktail" into print in 1907. The sweeter, Old Tom–based Martinez likely came first, and the drink settled into its dry shape in the early 20th century as London dry gin and French vermouth pushed the older style aside. Over the following decades the gin kept gaining ground — roughly two parts to one by 1922, three to one in the 1930s, four to one in the 1940s, and five or six to one by the late 20th century. The IBA now lists it as the Dry Martini, at six parts gin to one of vermouth.