Dry Martini (1:1 ratio) Fifty-Fifty

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (45 ratings)

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
1 12 oz Strucchi Dry Vermouth
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of skewered Fragata Green Olive..
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. Garnish with skewered olive.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 8/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 8/10

Review:

A very 'wet' but wonderfully Dry Martini which demands an olive, not a twist. Before you start - Craddock calls for it to be shaken, but it's better stirred. Shaking tends to suit Martinis with a low vermouth ratio.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Mixed to a different Martini ratio

History:

First published in Hugo R. Ensslin's 1917 Recipes for Mixed Drinks and then repeated, like so many of Ensslin's cocktails, in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book. Both Ensslin and Craddock call for the "Fifty-Fifty Cocktail" to be stirred and both also list a Dry Martini cocktail with the addition of "1 dash orange bitters." However, while Ensslin's 2:1 Martini is stirred, Craddock's 1:1 Martini is shaken, so according to Craddock, a Fifty-Fifty should be stirred while an equal parts Dry Martini is shaken. Remember, this is 23 years before Fleming's first Casino Royale Bond novel.

FIFTY-FIFTY COCKTAIL
½ Dry Gin
½ French Vermouth
Stir well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve.
---
MARTINI COCKTAIL (DRY)
2/3 Dry Gin
1/3 French Vermouth
1 dash Orange Bitters
Stir well in a mixing glass with ice, strain and serve, with an olive in glass.

Hugo R. Ensslin, 1917

FIFTY-FIFTY COCKTAIL
½ Dry Gin
½ French Vermouth
Stir well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve.
---
DRY MARTINI COCKTAIL.
½ French Vermouth.
½ Gin.
1 Dash Orange Bitters
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Harry Craddock, 1930

Dry Martini history and it's evolution page.

Nutrition:

One serving of Dry Martini (1:1 ratio) Fifty-Fifty contains 152 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.5 standard drinks
  • 23.31% alc./vol. (23.31° proof)
  • 21 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
18th May 2024 at 00:35
Wasn't sure if I would like this as I am not really a big fan of vermouth as a major flavour. I was pleasantly surprised. Both ingredients work well together. We did stir (although I do like all my martinis shaken).
The key to this is very good ingredients. This is no time for the nasty, cheap stuff.
Richard Christmas’ Avatar Richard Christmas
24th August 2024 at 18:14
Nasty, cheap stuff? Unthinkable! But what stylee of gin works best here?