5 Martinis – What’s New, What’s Old: Classic vs. Modern
Recipes: Classic, Hot and Dirty, Smoky, Cosmopolitan, and the Pornstar Martini - A Selection of the World’s Most Legendary Bars.
Every week there seems to be another new “twist” on the classic Martini. I like to sort through these new modern inventions while honoring the original American classic, iconic gin Martini. The abundance of craft gins produced with unusual blends of botanicals makes the classic gin Martini interesting in itself. However, I like to see that our contemporary, imaginative bartenders keep inventing new choices. Which ones do you prefer? Classic or Modern? Please comment, add your suggestions, and I’ll update our next “Subscribers Prefer” section.
Everyone wants to claim the invention of the Martini, the Cosmopolitan, the Margarita, and even the Gin & Tonic. Mixologists fight for the honor of the discovery. If you like mixology history, please refer to a few of my previous articles on the murky history of some classic cocktails along with who is claiming their discovery. I like to visit some of the legendary bars where classic cocktails were invented. See a selection of some of the World’s most legendary bars below. I have been to five of them. Let me know your favorites.
See “10 Classic Cocktails and their Murky Origins, Part I”, February 2021 and “Part II: 10 Classic Cocktails and Their Murky Origins – History and Making the Cocktails,” March 2021.
Join us next week for an exciting travel announcement for 2025.
The Original Classic Dry Gin Martini
This cocktail’s history is more than murky. Many of us became aware of the Martini from James Bond movies; Bond’s “shaken not stirred” endorsement came from Ernest Hemingway’s pronouncement in the novel, A Farewell to Arms. Most mixologists endorse the stirred version using gin. Perhaps you heard about the Martini from the “three Martini lunches on Madison Avenue” they featured on the TV series Mad Men? The origins are unclear. One story claims that a California bartender in the mid-1800’s in Martinez, CA called his gin cocktail “The Martinez” when he stirred one up for a gold miner. Another story claims that New York’s Knickerbocker Hotel originated the cocktail named for the vermouth brand Martini & Rossi. The Martini’s popularity spread during the Prohibition era with its illegal “bathtub” gin. The recipe for this bracing cocktail was first published in the Bartender’s Manual in the 1880’s. In the 1950’s the Vodka Martini became a hugely popular alternative.
The Hot and Dirty Martini
A modern twist on the Dirty Martini is the Hot and Dirty Martini, a spicy Martini dirtied up with salty olive juice and cayenne or jalapeno hot sauce.
The original Dirty Martini is, “believed” to have been invented in New York by a bartender named John O' Connor. John took the groundbreaking step of muddling olives and adding a splash of olive brine. This recipe completely changed the game for Martini drinkers like FDR, who stayed buzzed on them in the White House for almost four terms.
Smoky Martini
Bartending legend, author, educator, Dale DeGroff, replaces vermouth in the classic Martini with a blended Scotch whiskey. In sparing quantities, the Scotch’s smoky and savory notes blend beautifully with the gin’s botanicals. DeGroff is the winner of two James Beard Awards for a Wine & Spirits Professional. He was often called “King Cocktail,” as he honed his craft in the 1980’s at New York’s famous Rainbow Room.
According to DeGroff, originally this drink was known as the Berlin Station Chief. This cocktail has a serious literary pedigree and seems to have been taken from Norman Mailer’s 1991 novel Harlot’s Ghost, based on a real-life CIA agent William King Harvey. Harvey ran the Agency’s West Berlin operations. He mixed a Martini by rinsing the ice in the shaker with scotch prior to adding the gin.
The Cosmopolitan
Made famous by the characters, Carrie and Samantha, in Sex in the City, the Cosmopolitan took shape in reality with the advent of Absolut Citron. Citrus-infused vodka differentiated this cocktail from predecessors like the Kamikaze. Toby Cecchini of the Odeon in New York City is credited with its invention in 1987. But Toby’s co-worker, Melissa Huffsmith, said she introduced it to him. He said – she said. In 1985 celebrity mixologist, Cheryl Cook, working at the Strand Restaurant, where she test-marketed Absolut Citron in South Beach, FL, claimed the Cosmo invention. Neal Murry, bartender at the Cork and Cleaver, Minneapolis, mixed cranberry juice into a Kamikaze cocktail and declared, “how cosmopolitan.” You decide who really invented the Cosmo.
Whichever origin you believe, it was in the TV series Sex in the City that the Cosmopolitan became synonymous with working women and the emerging cocktail revolution.
The Pornstar Martini
The Pornstar Martini was created by bartender Douglas Ankrah in the early 2000s at his London bars Townhouse and LAB. The drink was originally called the Maverick Martini after the Maverick bar in Capetown, South Africa, where Ankrah first had the idea for it in 1999. Ankrah wanted to combine some of the most popular flavors of the time, including vodka, Prosecco, and passion fruit, but the drink was still incomplete. He later rebranded it as the Pornstar Martini because of its provocative nature and the exoticism of the passion fruit. The name evokes other innuendo-spiked drinks like Sex on the Beach and the Slow Comfortable Screw. Says Ankrah, “It was an instant hit.”
The World’s Most Legendary Bars and their Notable Celebrity Clientele
Skilled bartenders in impressive bars and hotels created classic cocktails. My votes go to the following locations for both their cocktail inventions and notable celebrity clientele:
· Harry’s New York Bar, Paris, has been frequented by the likes of Coco Chanel, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Dempsey, Rita Hayworth, and George Gershwin. The bar introduced the world to the Boulevardier (a bourbon, sweet vermouth, and Campari cocktail) and perhaps the Sidecar (a Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon drink.)
· Dukes Bar, London, England, is adorned with pictures of Sean Connery and his “shaken, not stirred” vodka Martini. My Martini was prepared tableside, quite an impressive presentation at Dukes Bar.
· The eponymous Sazerac Bar, Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans, is the spot where the Coquetiers (bartenders) toss a Sazerac (a rye or Cognac-based drink with bitters and absinthe added.)
· King Cole Bar, St. Regis Hotel, New York City, is adorned with a cryptic “merry old soul” tapestry of the King and credited with the invention of the Bloody Mary (traditionally a vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire, and hot sauce brunch libation). Ask why the figures in the tapestry are wrinkling their noses at the King.
· Harry’s Bar Venice, Italy, is the home to the Bellini, a Prosecco and peach purée blend. Since its 1931 opening, Harry’s Bar was a magnet for the likes of Orson Welles, Truman Capote, Aristotle Onassis, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, and of course, again, Ernest Hemingway. I visited Harry’s right off St. Mark’s Square and observed hundreds of Bellini’s being made. Give it a go when you are there and you will feel like you are part of cocktail history.
· Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, Singapore, has a 19th-century colonial past and features a “Writers Bar” where Rudyard Kipling and Noel Coward gathered. The Singapore Sling, a decadent mix of gin, Cointreau, Cherry Heering, Bénédictine, pineapple juice, bitters, and Grenadine, was created there.
· El Floridita, Havana, Cuba, is dubbed the “cradle of the double-strength Daiquiri,” a tropical drink, often frozen, prepared with a blend of rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. A life-sized sculpture of “Papa” Hemingway stands in this bar celebrating its well-known guest.
· Bar Hemingway at the Ritz, Paris, is a gathering spot where celebrities from Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald to Cole Porter, Winston Churchill, and Marilyn Monroe lingered. The Bar Hemingway is home to the world’s most expensive cocktail, the Ritz Sidecar. It’s a classic sidecar but made with 1830 Ritz Reserve Cognac. The supply is limited but the price tag grows steadily.
· The American Bar at the Savoy, London, was the place in the 1920’s and 1930’s where the famous barman, Harry Craddock, claimed to have invented over 240 cocktails. Celebrity visitors include Errol Flynn, Richard Harris, Cary Grant, and John Wayne.
Martini Recipes
How to Make a Dry Classic Gin Martini
Ingredients: 5 parts dry gin, 1 part vermouth, lemon twist.
Recommended Spirits: Hendrick’s Gin and Dolin Dry Vermouth.
Instructions: Fill mixing glass with ice. Add 1 part Vermouth and stir for a few seconds. Then add 5 parts dry gin to mixing glass and stir briskly for 50 turns. Stain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist or olive.
The Hot and Dirty Martini
Ingredients:
2 to 4 dashes cayenne or jalapeno hot sauce, or as needed, 2 to 2 1/2 oz. vodka, 1/2 oz. or 1 splash olive juice from jarred olives.
Garnish with 3 olives skewered.
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well mixed and chilled. Strain into a martini glass. Top with olive skewer. Sip and enjoy.
The Smoky Martini from Liquor.com
Ingredients:
2 ½ oz. London Dry gin, ¼ oz. blended Scotch whisky
Garnish: lemon twist
Instructions:
Add the gin and scotch into a mixing glass with ice and stir until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.
How to Make a Cosmopolitan
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. (45 ml) citrus vodka, .75 oz. (22ml) Cointreau, .75 oz. (22ml) fresh lime juice, .75 oz. (22 ml) cranberry juice, lime twist, to garnish.
Recommended Spirits: Absolut Citron
Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for 15-20 seconds, or until frosted on the outside. Stain into a coupe, garnish with a lime twist.
Variations:
The CosNo: Substitute Sipslip, a non-alcohol spirit instead of alcohol. A non-alcoholic favorite.
The Pornstar Martini
Ingredients:
1 c. frozen or fresh passion fruit pulp, ¾ cup water, ½ oz. lime juice, 1 ½ oz. vanilla vodka, ½ oz. passion fruit liqueur, 1 slice fresh passion fruit, for garnish.
2 oz. brut or extra-dry prosecco, for shooter serving.
Instructions:
Blend the passion fruit puree (fresh or frozen). To make the cocktail, fill a cocktail shaker with ice, Add the lime juice, 1 oz. of passion fruit puree, vanilla vodka, and passion fruit liqueur. Shake until frothy and well-chilled, about 15 seconds. Fine strain the mixture into a martini glass to remove any remaining seeds. Top with 1 slice of fresh passion fruit. Pour the prosecco (or Champagne) into a shot or shooter glass and serve as a sidecar.
More Martini Recipes: Where to Find Them
Martini, More Than 40 Classic & Modern Recipes for the Iconic Cocktail, $13
Vogue Cocktails, Classic Drinks from the Golden Age of Cocktails, $15
The Martini: An Illustrated History of an American Classic, $18
Wine Wanderings Editorial Calendar
**2025 – April – Wine Cruise -TRAVEL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR WINE WANDERINGS SUBSCRIBERS – Paris-Monet’s Gardens- Normandy Beaches on AmaWaterways “Impressions of the Seine & Paris” River Cruise
Celebrating the Olympics with Rosé
Grower Champagnes – Why are They the Darlings of Champagne? (WH)
The Loire Valley: Touring Chateau Chenonceau
The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 Revisited with a Tribute to both Chateau Montelena and Warren Winiarski
Book Review and Interview: “Strong Water: On Food, Wine, and Restaurants,” by Tim Gaiser, MS
Two Surprising Wineries of the Loire Valley: Montdomaine and Ambacia, Ancient Sites with Modern, Organic Approaches
Understanding Right Bank Bordeaux: Pomerol and St. Emilion
10 Tips for Planning Your Next Trip to Paris
Restaurants of Napa Valley
Book Review: Big Macs and Burgundy
Yes but you can also water it down slightly. Put the gin in the freezer first and the stirred one will be chilled.
Linda, so many bars and so little time to see them. I have been to many but not to the Savoy. Next!