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San Martin

Name: San Martin
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 22.5 ml Gin; 22.5 ml Dry vermouth; 22.5 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 7.5 ml Anisette liqueur; 1 dash Aromatic bitters

Difford’s Guide

Discerning Drinkers (6)

Measurements in:

Serves:

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Ingredients
³⁄₄ fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
³⁄₄ fl oz	Strucchi Dry Vermouth (chilled)
³⁄₄ fl oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth (chilled)
¹⁄₄ fl oz	Anisette liqueur
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters

How to make

Glassware

Serve in a Coupe glass

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
RIM glass with sugar rim (remove glass from freezer and dip into fine sugar).

Method

STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

No additional garnish. (The preprepared rim is garnish enough.)

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of San Martin contains 138 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
19.8% alc./vol. (39.59° proof)
14.9 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Dry vermouth, Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) — Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

History

Named after Don José de San Martín (1778–1850), the Argentine general celebrated as the "Libertador" of Argentina, Chile, and Peru, this cocktail emerged circa 1907 and is considered an Argentine interpretation of the Martini. Like the Martini, the San Martin morphed over the decades.

Early versions of the San Martin tend to be based on old tom gin and rosso vermouth, an example being the recipe in Benito Iglesias' 1911 book El Arte del Coctelero with drops of cherry brandy liqueur, maraschino liqueur and orange bitters.

San Martín cocktail
(En un vaso de refresco colóquese trozos de hielo cristalino.)

Adjúntese:
1 gotas licor Cherry Brandy.
1 gotas licor Maraschino de Zara.
1 gotas Orange Bitters.
1/3 vasito Old Tom Gin Sumner.
1/3 vasito vermouth Cinzano.

Mézclese suavemente y sírvase con una fruta de estación.
Benito Iglesias, El Arte del Coctelero, 1911

In his 1920s book Guía del coctelero, José Penedo, a bartender at the Majestic Hotel Rosario in Argentina, specifies ½ glass dry gin, ½ glass rosso vermouth, a dash of curaçao and a dash of orange bitters.

SAN MARTIN
Úsese vaso de composiciones y póngase:
Hielo.
Un chorro de curacao.
Un chorro de amargo naranja.
1/2 copa de Vermouth Torino.
1/2 copa de Dry Gin.
Revúlvase, cuélese y sírvase en copa, adornándola con un gajo mandarina.
José Penedo, Guía del coctelero, 1920s

However, in his 1922 book Cocktails:- How to Mix Them, Robert Vermeire's recipe calls for dry gin, rosso vermouth, "1 teaspoonful of Yellow Chartreuse" and "no Bitters of any description".

San Martin Cocktail
This well-known South American drink must be well shaken. It contain no Bitters of any description, but:

1/4 gill of Gin.
1/4 gill of Italian Vermouth.
1 teaspoonful of Yellow Chartreuse.

A little lemon-peel is squeezed on top.
Robert Vermeire, Cocktails - How to Mix Them, 1922

In his 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock misspells this cocktail's name, so creating the "Sand Martin", which has endured with books such as Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide including recipes for this as well as a "Sand Martin".

SAN MARTIIN
Cocktail Glass
Stir
3/4 oz gin
3/4 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
1/4 oz anisette
1 dash bitters
Sugar glass rim

Note: Also see SAND MARTIN
Stanley M. Jones, Jones' Complete Barguide, 1977

Review

Anisette sets this equal parts mix of gin, dry and sweet vermouths apart.

Variations/similar cocktails

Earlier versions (see below) of this 'fancy' Martini call for other liqueurs, and the sugar rim is a later addition. For a rendition of an earlier recipe, stir the following with ice and strain into a chilled glass:
45ml (1½oz) London dry gin or old tom gin
45ml (1½oz) rosso vermouth
1.25ml (¼ barspoon) Maraschino liqueur
1.25ml (¼ barspoon) Cherry brandy liqueur
1 dash Orange bitters

Hayman's London Dry Gin 750ml - makes 33 cocktails
$33.99 $1.03 per cocktail Hayman's London Dry Gin image

Angostura Aromatic Bitters 120ml - makes 384 cocktails
$13.99 $0.04 per cocktail Angostura Aromatic Bitters image

$1.07 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 33 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.

Orders are processed by a licensed Fulproof retailer. The buy now button is added simply for convenience.

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* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

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Comments & Discussion

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Simon Sedgley Premium Member 18w

We think that this might become one of our favourite Martini-ish drinks. The Gin is not too centre stage and it's nice and wet with background notes of sweetness and bitter...a lovely harmony.

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