Special Brew Martini

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (15 ratings)

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 14 oz Ketel One Vodka
1 14 oz Byrrh aperitif aromatised wine
1 14 oz Akashi-Tai Daiginjo Genshu sake
1 dash La Fée Parisienne absinthe
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

Review:

Hopefully, it's 'Special'! 'Brew' refers to both the use of Byrrh (pronounced beer) and sake (which is brewed). To be a true 'Martini' a cocktail should have both gin and vermouth – we tried gin but vodka worked so much better. Byrrh doesn't qualify as a vermouth as while an aromatised wine it lacks wormwood – an omission made up for in this drink with a dash of absinthe.

View readers' comments

History:

Created 21st February 2015 by yours truly at the Cabinet Room, London, England.

Nutrition:

One serving of Special Brew Martini contains 166 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.6 standard drinks
  • 19.78% alc./vol. (19.78° proof)
  • 22.3 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.

Join the discussion

Showing 3 comments for Special Brew Martini.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment
Matt’s Avatar Matt
13th November 2024 at 02:11
Elegant and attractive pale rose-gold color. Simple formulation allows for the delicious fruit of the Byrrh and the Daiginjo sake to lead the flavor with the vodka vanishing into the background. A very nice vodka martini/saketini variant.
Simon Sedgley’s Avatar Simon Sedgley
17th August 2024 at 05:39
Unlike Agent 007, we are not big fans of the Martini but perhaps this one will encourage us to experiment with other aromatised wines, such as Lillet Blanc and Cocchi Americano.
Mike Ummels’ Avatar Mike Ummels
16th January 2023 at 01:34
Easy to make with few ingredients and yet it tastes so complex. The relatively low alcohol content also works well. A good reason to try and buy sake for a change!