Perfect Martini

Balanced between dry and sweet.

Gin with equal measures of dry and sweet vermouth, stirred and served ice-cold. A midpoint between the Dry and the Sweet Martini: crisp, but with a rounded, spiced edge.

Aperitif
Stirred

Glass: Cocktail glass
Method: Stirred
Strength: Very strong
Time: 2 min
Difficulty: Easy
Ice: No ice

Ingredients

Servings 1

Gin 60 ml
Dry vermouth 10 ml
Sweet red vermouth 10 ml

Garnish

Orange twist

Proportions

How to make

Chill a cocktail glass.
Fill a mixing glass with ice.
Pour the gin.
Pour the dry vermouth.
Pour the sweet red vermouth.
Stir until well chilled.
Strain into the chilled glass.
Express the orange zest and garnish.

The story

Origins

DocumentedOrigin attested by written sources of the time.

In bar jargon, "perfect" means a drink whose vermouth is split equally between dry and sweet, as in the Perfect Manhattan. In Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) the formula appears as the "Martini (Medium)": roughly half gin, the rest divided between French and Italian vermouth, shaken. In 1948 David Embury, in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, still calls it the Medium Martini, records the name "Perfect" while criticising it, and notes it was sometimes called the Somerset. No inventor is known. The drink entered the IBA lists of 1993 and 2004 as Martini Perfect and was dropped in 2011.

Sources (6)

Taste profile

Strong: 5 out of 5
Herbal: 3 out of 5
Dry: 3 out of 5
Sweet: 1 out of 5