The bartender iced the glass, chilled the gin (stirred, not shaken), spritzed vermouth over top, and laid a single skewered olive in the glass. He presented the cocktail on a gleaming silver tray.
Despite the fanfare, I wasn’t sold on the drink. It was simply too plain for my taste. The best part was the briny bite of the olive.
A splash of olive brine adds salty-savory complexity that brings out the herbaceous qualities of gin and vermouth while smoothing out the cocktail’s brash alcoholic edge.
As far as garnishes go, a standard martini has an olive as a garnish. You can order yours “with a twist,” though, which replaces the olive with a twist of lemon peel. If you want your martini with no garnish at all, order it “clean.”
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According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, the original dirty martini was invented in 1901 at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, where bartender John O’Connor “sullied” the storied cocktail with muddled olives. The purists were appalled, but the drink took off.
And at some point along the way, brine replaced the crushed olives.
These days, bartenders dirty martinis with all sorts of additions, including a pinch of MSG with olive brine for the ultimate savory take, as well as swapping olive brine for the salty, tangy, funky liquids from all sorts of other pickles and even the brine from a cheese such as feta.
Inspired by some of these alternative dirty martinis, I decided to do some experimenting.
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Published Jan. 30, 2024.
I had my first martini at a swanky London establishment called The Library Bar.
The bartender iced the glass, chilled the gin (stirred, not shaken), spritzed vermouth over top, and laid a single skewered olive in the glass. He presented the cocktail on a gleaming silver tray.
Despite the fanfare, I wasn’t sold on the drink. It was simply too plain for my taste. The best part was the briny bite of the olive.
Maybe that’s why I’ve always loved a dirty martini.
A splash of olive brine adds salty-savory complexity that brings out the herbaceous qualities of gin and vermouth while smoothing out the cocktail’s brash alcoholic edge.
How To Make A Great Martini at Home
FAQ
What is a martini without olives called?
What is an alternative to olives in a martini?
Does a martini always have an olive?
What is a martini for someone who doesn’t like olives?
Are olives free in a martini?
Don’t get us wrong, asking for olives in your martini is a totally reasonable and respectable request. However, olives aren’t free, and asking for six olives will put you on your bartender’s bad side in a hurry. Despite their delicious snackability, olives are in fact, a garnish.
Is it safe to drink extra virgin olive oil daily?
The consumption of olive oil is very safe, being the oil most suitable for preparing everyday food and dressing salads. But there are tastier ways to consume it than drinking it.
Can you drink a martini without vermouth?
There is one other way to drink a martini without vermouth, and that’s to just drop it entirely with no replacement. It’s called the Churchill martini, which Drizly notes was named after Winston Churchill’s purported preference for nothing but gin stirred with ice and an olive.
Can you drink a martini with no ice?
You don’t want to find yourself sidling up to the bar and then being caught off guard. This is a big one. Martinis can be served one of two ways: up, which means in a stemmed martini glass with no ice, or on the rocks, which means with ice.