Dirty Martini Cocktail

Serve in a

Garnish:

Olive on stick

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

AKA:

F.D.R. Martini after the American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Review:

This drink varies from delicious to disgusting, depending on what's making it "Dirty". This is traditionally the liquid from a jar of olives and if using this then you'll need between 5ml (1 barspoon) and 7.5ml (¼oz) of olive brine. (Beware jars of olives packed in oil as this produces a revolting emulsion). Instead, as indicated in this recipe, I prefer five generous dashes of The Bitter Truth's Olive Bitters.

Variant:

Substitute vodka for gin.

History:

Cocktail historian David Wondrich has traced the origins of the Dirty Martini back to 1901 and a bartender called John E. O'Connor who served a Dry Martini with muddled olives at New York's Waldorf Astoria.

The first written reference to brine being added to a Martini-style cocktail appears in G.H. Steele's 1930 My New Cocktail Book.

PERFECT (a la Hyland)
50% Plymouth Gin
50% French Vermouth
Angostura bitters
Orange bitters
Peychaud bitters
Olive brine (1 teaspoon)

G. F. Steele, 1930

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: the 32nd President, who was a keen home bartender, is often connected to this cocktail. However, besides a story that Joseph Stalin recommended he sip pickle juice and vodka as a cure for a hangover at the Yalta Conference in 1945, there is no evidence that he used olive brine in his Martinis. Besides, his cocktails were reportedly "horrendous."

The Martini and its evolution

Nutrition:

One serving of Dirty Martini Cocktail contains 151 calories.

Alcohol content:

• 1.8 standard drinks
• 31.7% alc./vol. (63.4° proof)
• 25.1 grams of pure alcohol