Dirty Martini
The savoury Martini.
This is a Dry Martini 'dirtied' with green olive brine: gin, dry vermouth and a measure of the olives' brine, garnished with olives. Compared with the classic Dry Martini, just gin and dry vermouth, it tastes savoury and briny and looks slightly cloudy.
- Aperitif
- Stirred
- Glass
- Cocktail glass
- Method
- Stirred
- Strength
- Very strong
- Time
- 3 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Ice
- No ice
Ingredients
Measures for 1 serving
-
Gin
60 ml
-
Dry vermouth
15 ml
-
Green olive brine
15 ml
Garnish
- Green olive
Proportions
How to make
- Chill a martini glass.
- Fill the mixing glass with ice.
- Pour the gin.
- Pour the dry vermouth.
- Add the olive brine.
- Stir well.
- Strain into the chilled glass.
- Garnish with skewered green olives.
The story
Origins
ProbableA plausible account, without definitive proof.
According to historian David Wondrich, the idea of pairing olives with the Martini goes back to 1901, when John E. O'Connor, a bartender at New York's Waldorf Astoria, served a Dry Martini with muddled olives. The first written recipe with olive brine appears in 1930 in G.H. Steele's My New Cocktail Book, under the name Perfect à la Hyland, combining gin, vodka, dry vermouth and a little brine. The drink is often linked to Franklin D. Roosevelt, but sources disagree and firm evidence is lacking. Long a niche specialty, the Dirty Martini gained popularity in the late 1990s, often in its vodka version.
Sources (5)
- Difford's Guide — Dirty Martini (opens in a new tab) recipe and history
- Master of Malt — Cocktail of the Week: the Dirty Martini (opens in a new tab) recipe and history
- IBA — Dry Martini (no Dirty variant listed) (opens in a new tab) recipe
- PUNCH — The Dirty Martini cleans up (opens in a new tab) history
- VinePair — History of the Martini olive (opens in a new tab) history
Taste profile
- Strong
- 5 out of 5
- Dry
- 4 out of 5
- Herbal
- 2 out of 5
