Dry Martini 'Preferred' (5:1 ratio)

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (320 ratings)

Serve in a Martini glass

Ingredients:
2.08 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
0.42 oz Strucchi Dry Vermouth
1 dash Orange Bitters by Angostura optional
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Martini glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of skewered chilled Fragata Green Olive &/or lemon zest twist (or served Dicken's-style without a garnish).
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.
  5. EXPRESS lemon zest &/or garnish with chilled olive (or serve Dicken's-style).

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 9/10

Review:

This is my go-to Dry Martini, although I arrive at the same 5:1 ratio with a generous 75ml (2½oz) gin to 15ml (½oz) dry vermouth. I chose a 5:1 ratio as our 'preferred' Dry Martini specification in deference to David Embury who writes of this drink in his The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, "After extensive experimentation I have arrived at the ratio of 5 to 1 as the proportion most pleasing to the average palate. Personally I like a ratio of about 7 to 1 even better, and I know some who prefer a ratio as high as 10 to 1."

The proportion of gin to vermouth is a matter of taste; some say 5 to 1, others that one drop is sufficient. I recommend you ask the drinker how they would like their Martini, in the same manner that you might ask how they have their steak.

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Variant:

The 'Oliver Twist' choice between an olive (stuffed or otherwise) or a lemon zest twist is traditional and these are the two most common garnishes for a Dry Martini. There are, however, a number of variants. A 'Dickens' is a Martini without a twist, a Gibson is a Martini with two onions instead of an olive or a twist and a Franklin Martini is named after Franklin Roosevelt and has two olives.

Nutrition:

One serving of Dry Martini 'Preferred' (5:1 ratio) contains 152 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.6 standard drinks
  • 29.37% alc./vol. (29.37° proof)
  • 22.1 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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Paul Belczowski’s Avatar Paul Belczowski
16th August 2024 at 09:56
I've shared my thoughts here before, and I still love this recipe. However, I've recently found my go-to dry martini combo that I can't get enough of:

60 ml London Dry Gin (currently using Tanqueray for its versatility)
15 ml Dolin Dry Vermouth
4 green olives on a skewer
I let a few drops of olive juice fall into the glass from the spoon while garnishing. To me, this makes an immaculate martini. I highly recommend trying this 4:1 ratio. Enjoy!
John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
11th September 2024 at 14:53
Have you tried 4.5:1 ? I find it works very well and balanced the ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ qualities very well. Simon’s suggestion of one dash orange bitters also adds an extra dimension. Bitter truth bitters tend to be more nuanced here where there’s so few ingredients to horses amongst.
John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
19th June 2024 at 13:53
This is a very nice martini. Can taste both the gin botanicals and the vermouth (I love vermouth), and the dash of bitters adds a brilliant kick. Lemon twist for me. Happy World martini day everyone!
Nicholas Finlay’s Avatar Nicholas Finlay
6th April 2024 at 13:51
Beautiful Martini glass - anyone know where to buy?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
6th April 2024 at 17:35
It was an Urban Bar glass, but sadly, it's no longer made.
G. M. Genovese’s Avatar G. M. Genovese
28th March 2024 at 18:47
I prefer a 3:1 Martini w/ Regan's No 6... I made this one off of the Montgomery's 15:1 Martini off here, which I thought tasted like tainted gin, which wasn't overall bad, but required more... Dumped the diluted leftovers into a coupe and added the required measure of Noilly Prat dry to get this to the above specs and, oh my, was it nice. Not that I can easily reproduce the diluted balance. But this blend begged for olive brine... This be my Dirty Martini template going forward.
Steven Cook’s Avatar Steven Cook
11th January 2024 at 09:24
Probably the ideal ratio of gin to vermouth, 3 olives on a cocktail stick gives a lot of extra flavour without it really becoming dirty.
Paul Belczowski’s Avatar Paul Belczowski
23rd September 2023 at 10:02
Made it just as it says. Oh my word that’s delicious
Greg Klump’s Avatar Greg Klump
6th May 2023 at 22:47
Used Monkey 47 (Rutte is not available where I am). I interpreted the 1/12 as spec'd to be a typo, since 2 1/2 is consistent with a 5:1 ratio.
I like this Martini. Yes I do. Quite lovely.
John Hinojos’ Avatar John Hinojos
24th July 2022 at 00:10
Not being a big fan of the martini decided to try this one as we had some lovely Spanish olives we were using for Spanish Chicken with Saffron dish. Decided to try with the olives. This was unbelievably great. Has made me appreciate the nuances of the martini. Will be trying more, but this is on my favourites list.
19th May 2022 at 16:58
I used this ratio for a dry martini and a dirty gin martini and both turned out fantastic.
3rd January 2022 at 10:07
Recently I read about Graham Greene and the cocktail named after him; simply a good Dry Martini with a dash of Cassis.
Highly recommended.