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Dirty Martini

Aperitivo/aperitif · Classic/vintage · Hall of Fame and must know/try

4.0 112 ratings

Ingredients

2 oz Gin
3/4 oz Dry vermouth
1/2 oz Olive brine
8 drop Ginseng bitters

How to make

Serve in a martini glass

Prepare

  1. 1 Select and pre-chill a MARTINI GLASS.
  2. 2 Prepare garnish of skewered green olives.

Method

  1. 3 STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. 4 STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. 5 Garnish with skewered olives.

Flavour profile

23.2% alc./vol. · 1.6 standard drinks · 179 calories

History

With the appropriate olive brine, this cocktail is a delicious, salty, gin-laced, herbal delight. As with all Martinis, achieving the perfect level of dilution and an ice-cold serving temperature is crucial, aided by chilling or freezing all ingredients, the glass, and garnish. However, a Dirty Martini introduces olive brine as another element. The choice of olives and their brine will make or break this cocktail; olives packed in oil should be avoided as they produce an unpleasant emulsion. The amount of olive brine to use varies from 5ml to 22.5ml, depending on personal taste and the brine's flavor intensity. A taste in the middle range, from 10ml (⅓oz) to 15ml (½oz), has been found to be ideal, though up to 20ml (⅔oz) can be used if the olive juice is mild. This cocktail benefits from the subtle addition of bitters, with Bob's Ginseng Bitters being a particular favorite for this drink.

Cocktail historian David Wondrich has traced the origins of the Dirty Martini back to 1901. At that time, a bartender named John E. O'Connor served a Dry Martini with muddled olives at New York's Waldorf Astoria. The first written mention of adding brine to a Martini-style cocktail is found in G.H. Steele's 1930 book, "My New Cocktail Book," which includes the following recipe: PERFECT (a la Hyland) 50% Plymouth Gin 50% French Vermouth Angostura bitters Orange bitters Peychaud bitters Olive brine (1 teaspoon) An interesting connection is often made to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President and an enthusiastic home bartender. However, apart from an anecdote about Joseph Stalin suggesting pickle juice and vodka as a hangover remedy at the Yalta Conference in 1945, no evidence supports his use of olive brine in Martinis. Furthermore, his cocktails were reportedly "horrendous."

Also known as F.D.R. Martini after the American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.