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All cocktails Nick and Nora

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Nick and Nora

Classic/vintage · Short and stirred · Spirit-forward

4.1 27 ratings

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Dry vermouth

How to make

Serve in a nick & nora glass

Prepare

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

Method

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

Garnish

  1. 5 Garnish with skewered olives.

Flavour profile

27.9% alc./vol. · 1.2 standard drinks · 117 calories

History

A classic Three-to-One Dry Martini in bijou proportions.

Created around 1934, this cocktail is named for Nick and Nora Charles, the engaging couple featured in Dashiell Hammett's 1933 The Thin Man, which was serialized in Redbook Magazine. Published as Prohibition was drawing to a close, the story follows Nick, a heavy-drinking former detective, and his wife Nora, a wealthy heiress, as they embrace cocktail culture. The Thin Man was released as a novel in 1934 and subsequently adapted into a film series. In the novel, Nick and Nora shake their Martinis. Nick imparts wisdom to a bartender, stating, "The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a Dry Martini you always shake to waltz time." This advice leads some to believe a Nick and Nora Martini ought to be shaken, not stirred. The movie features the detective couple drinking from what is now recognized as a Nick & Nora glass, which has led to this scaled-down Dry Martini being typically served in such a glass.