Interestingly enough, I have less of a problem with all the new savory variations (I’d hit half of the ones listed, including the “Caprese” martini and the spicy pickle brine martini), but I’ve always turned down my nose on the sweet dessert drinks like Espresso-, Chocolate- or Mangotinis.
Mayhaps the one guy is right when he says: "The word martini isn’t as much of a hard-and-fast rule as it is a descriptor of how you’re going to receive the drink. It’s much less about the contents and more about the glass.”
“The word martini isn’t as much of a hard-and-fast rule as it is a descriptor of how you’re going to receive the drink. It’s much less about the contents and more about the glass.”
This is the point of the article, and the wrong-est thing in it. The word “martini” has a pretty good definition, one lots of people understand. The drink is not named after the vessel. The vessel is named after the drink. No one serves you a “coupe” or a “mason jar” or a “rocks glass” even if that’s what holds the liquid.
Just come up a with a new name. It’s not hard. I’ve made up a bunch of drink names: The Byproduct, The Good Save, The Fruit Bat. Fun for the whole family!
It’s become shorthand for a drink that is served in a martini glass, chilled, and up - whether you agree with that evolution or not.
The article does touch on the OG (which is actually - at least according to some sources - a martinez), but I think we lost that … uh … authenticity fight when the first appletini raised its ugly, fake-ass green head.
It’s ok. I can still drink my martini the way I like it (always gin, rarely dirty, and dry AF), yet still appreciate the creativity of bars pushing the limits.
As long as it’s not sweet… but then I still don’t have to order it.
What a bunch of bullshit. If you put a cocktail in a martini glass it does not become a martini. E.g. Manhattan, Cosmo, Gimlet etc. Call your fancy ass cocktail a blah blah served in a martini glass.
My dad liked Gibsons... on the rocks. In a snifter. Have no idea where that came from. So it’s a double mutant martini, I guess. Friends of mine who’d invite him for holiday dinners in his his later years kept a special snifter on their bookshelf just for him. He appreciated the kindness.
I don’t really mind the idea of playing with garnishes. I will happily eat a mozzarella ball with my olive but sweet drinks in a martini glass are not martini’s. Words do have meanings otherwise it is all just babble. I realize that it is common to do so now. That does not make it correct nor logical.
I agree about the garnishes. I even did a pickle one time. I’m ok with dirty martinis as long as they stick with olive brine.
eta, I just remembered I kind of like a dash of tipsy onion brine, so much for my purism.
From Liquor.com
" The Dirty Martini is believed to have originated in 1901, when New York bartender John O’Connor found inspiration in the classic’s famous olive garnish. First made by muddling the olive into the drink, and later by adding a splash of olive brine, the Dirty Martini took decades to reach a wide fan base. It eventually found favor among drinkers, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who often mixed them for guests in the White House.
As the Dirty Martini has grown in popularity, bartenders have increasingly begun to make the drink their own, improving the cocktail with proper techniques and quality ingredients. That includes fresh, refrigerated dry vermouth and artisan olive juice.
The cocktail can be made with gin or vodka. Gin is the classic choice, but by the 1970s, vodka had supplanted its botanical cousin, and it became the regular call in Dirty Martinis. You can choose whichever spirit you prefer, as both do an admirable job."
