Elevate your Martini game

If there was ever a cocktail that embodies deceptive simplicity, it’s the Martini. Just two ingredients – gin or vodka and vermouth – and a third, dilution, and even that’s not always guaranteed. Yet there’s plenty of complexity once you get into the details, and with the recent, entirely justified craze for them, there’s never been a better time to go down that rabbit hole.

With just two main components, your choice of spirit and vermouth is clearly key.

“Stick to very traditional London Dry style gins that don’t have overly exaggerated botanicals, otherwise the drink can become overwhelming, too floral or potpourri-like in style,” is the advice of Pietro Colina, beverage director at Viajante87. “The same applies to vermouth: stick to a classic style and don’t go too experimental until you really understand what a Martini is supposed to taste like.”

At Without Papers Bar, the approach to vermouth is a little more complex. “We use our own bespoke blend, with Mancino Dry as a base, combined with Cocchi Americano for citrus and floral notes, and Marsala Secco to add complexity, nutty depth and a savoury, dry finish,” says co-founder and director Marco Piroli.

Another approach is to directly modify your vermouth where necessary – “a modern take on seasoning”, according to Elliot Ball, co-founder of bars including The Cocktail Trading Co. “Our ‘house vermouths’ are generally off-the-shelf products with a touch of sugar, salt and altered acidity profile,” he says. “No one wants to see these go into their Martini, but they always do better in blind tests.”

The ABV of the base spirit is an important consideration too, affecting the temperature and dilution of the finished drink. In Ball’s words: “stronger spirits wiggle that entropy-enthalpy relationship to create a colder Martini.”

When it comes to the sometimes-contentious choice between gin or vodka, Jacob Drew, general manager at All My Gods, has a hot take, specifically about extra-cold serves. “Truth be told, at -18°C it’s difficult for the average guest to tell the difference between vodka and gin anyway.”

With ingredients sorted, the next consideration is the ratio of spirit to vermouth – and their temperature – and opinions vary. For Colina at Viajante87, the ratio is 6:1 spirit to vermouth. At Waltz, it’s 5:1 for a dry Martini, and 2:1 for wet. The house recommended serves at The Prince, meanwhile, are 6:1 for No.3 Gin and 7:1 for Konik’s Tail Vodka, all made with spirits and glassware kept at -25°C. 

This approach allows for guest preference. “We view Martinis as a very personal drink,” says The Prince co-founder Will Hawes. “We have a guide at the back of the menu, with different options and inspiration, so we can tailor these individually to a guest. Although we can make the Dukes-style direct-pour Martini, we make all our Martinis to order.”

“Don’t be afraid to adjust your ratios,” says Piroli. “Different gins, vodkas, and vermouths will require different balances.”

Colina points out the importance of dilution too. “A good Martini is usually diluted by around 25%–30%, depending on how much vermouth you use,” he says.

Hawes agrees. “Dilution is often overlooked. Too little doesn't open up the flavours within the spirit and vermouth, and with too much they are lost and the drink becomes watery. There’s definitely a sweet spot.”

At Hawksmoor, beverage director Liam Davy adopts a number of approaches, from freezer Martinis – more on those later – to house Martinis stirred to order with a frozen spirit. “These should still be nice and strong, but are served slightly smaller.” he says. Hawksmoor also offers Duke’s-style Martinis – straight spirit poured from the freezer, served with a side of pickles.

While most will tell you that a Martini should be served as cold as possible, Waltz founder Gento Torigata, perhaps controversially, takes a more nuanced approach. “I wouldn’t say the colder the better – I think there’s an ideal temperature for each style. An extreme example is the Dirty Martini, where you’re supposed to enjoy the savoriness of the brine, and a colder temperature means you sense less of that.”

For the Dirty Martini, and for a wet Martini too, he suggests not going lower than 0°C. This is not only about flavour, but about dilution too, where the higher ratio of vermouth means an overall lower ABV, so to get to a lower temperature would mean more dilution.

But if your goal is cold, and consistent, you can’t do much better than a freezer Martini. This is the approach that Davy takes for the Hawksmoor ‘Ultimate’ Martini, batched with 20% dilution, decanted into a chilled Yeti insulated flask and poured to order. “For us, this is the perfect expression of the Martini,” he says.

Piroli, who also serves Martinis direct from the freezer, at -18°C, with a 7:1 ratio, points out that “careful pre-dilution is essential to ensure balance and texture, as there is no further stirring before service.”

The freezer serve, for Ball, came about during lockdown, with time to experiment and refine the original. “For example, the sugar/salt/seasoning aspect works totally differently in a freezer Martini, as our ability to taste something is altered by the extreme chill. But the outcome, when balanced, is pretty extraordinary.”

Ball mentions the use of some “fun extras to ensure it’s still a liquid at -20°C”, much like Colina’s approach at Viajante87 for the Glacier Martini. “This uses glycol and glycerin to lower the freezing point to around -20°C, while still maintaining a wet Martini with a higher proportion of vermouth,” says Colina.

The rise of the freezer Martini, meanwhile, has largely taken the wind out of the sails of the shaken-vs-stirred debate, although most would still consider a shaken Martini to be in decidedly bad taste. There are, of course, exceptions. Among these are Colina’s shaken Dirty Martini, as well as Hawksmoor’s Steakhouse and Vesper Martinis.

“While this technique might be frowned upon, it gives you a lighter, brighter Martini with a little more dilution that’s easier to drink,” says Davy.

Torigata, too, makes the occasional shaken Martini variant. One is the Nome, a classic based on the Alaska cocktail, and closely aligned to the Martini, with gin, yellow Chartreuse and fino sherry. “We do a shake for this – as hard as possible, until the shaker is frosted – because we prioritise the temperature and the ice shards you have on the surface, and we’re not worried about dilution. It’s more tasty with more water content.”

This attention to detail at Waltz extends to the vessel each Martini is served in. “We have so many choices of glass types for our Martinis. I believe the shape really affects your perception,” says Torigata, who has hosted masterclasses on the subject. “With a rim that curves outward, your lips open wider, you get more liquid, and it feels better – and tastier.”

Davy suggests investing in good-quality glassware, from a brand like John Jenkins, and recommends nothing bigger than 150ml capacity. For Colina, it’s all about Nude glassware, from their standard Martini glasses to the Nude Bar Johnny Martini glasses.

With temperature in mind, the team at The Prince reglass a Martini when it’s half way through.

Garnishes, too – or the choice to not garnish – are important considerations. “These vary depending on the serve, from large Gordal olives to twists and onions,” says Colina.

At Waltz, the Gibson, classically served with pickled onion, is made with sake instead of vermouth, and paired with three different pickles on the side.

“Pickled things work beautifully with a Martini,” Davy agrees. “But don't restrict yourself to olives or onions. Cornichons are great, as are little peppers or chillis.”

For Ball, what’s important is providing some aroma, particularly at lower temperatures. “At -20°C, the molecules in the liquid are moving with such little energy that they infrequently break the surface tension of the drink, so aroma is limited – hence we think a lemon zest over the top is basically obligatory.”

A revered classic it may be, but some are taking the Martini to experimental extremes – such as the Blended Gin Martini on Murder Inc’s menu.

The bar’s general manager, Oscar Perry, was working on ways to make blended serves more service efficient and consistent. The result was a system in which modifiers and water were frozen into cubes and then blended with the base spirit – perfect for the likes of Strawberry Daiquiris. “But when you spend more than six months working on the best way to make slushies, it'd be pointless not to make something at least a bit ridiculous. 'Tis the Murder Inc way,” he says.

The result is made with Sipsmith VJOP and frozen components including Noilly Prat, lactic acid solution, lemon oleo saccharum and fino sherry. Once blended, it’s served with a couple of olives and lemon peel expressed over it.

As Perry explains: “I prefer a lemon peel on my classic Martini, but visually you can't do better than an olive to say 'I am become Frozen Martini, destroyer of hangovers.'”

Over in London’s Bethnal Green, the All My Gods team dispense ice-cold Martinis from a repurposed Jägermeister machine. “We weren’t the first to put a Martini in one of these,” says Drew, giving credit to co-owner of now closed Every Cloud and Silver Lining, Felix Cohen, for having the idea some time ago. “But we were surprised that not many other bars had used them in the same way.”

Particularly when Drew describes the machine as “a freezer with a tap”, and “a device originally designed to serve liquid at an incredibly cold temperature, -18°C, to be precise”.

The team experimented with different ratios, settling on 3:1 with no dilution, served directly from the machine into 100ml mini Martini glasses. “We serve them naked by default, but for those who prefer a twist or an olive, both are available, along with brine for anyone wanting theirs dirty,” says Drew. “The biggest drawback is that it only has one tank and one tap, which means we can only offer vodka as the base spirit for now.”