Martinez Cocktail Recipe

The martinez cocktail may be a predecessor to the martini but these drinks could hardly be less alike to the modern palate.

Martinez cocktail recipe. When this drink originated in the 19th century old tom gin was usually made by. The proportions of vermouth used reflect the sales of french and italian vermouths in america at the time. Despite the country s rapidly growing taste for craft cocktails the martini still remains a top request for many patrons in restaurants. This is the drink that put it over the top.

The martinez cocktail does appear in the 1887 edition of his bartenders guide which came out two years after his death specifying 1 pony of old tom gin and apart from the base spirit the recipe is strikingly similar to for the manhattan cocktail on the opposite page. Martinez cocktail in jerry thomas 1867 bar tenders guide. The recipe that most resembles the one served today comes from legendary bartender jerry thomas and includes old tom gin a sweeter take on the juniper spirit. The martinez starts with equal parts gin and sweet vermouth and this alone distinguishes it in two ways from the modern martini.

That is not a light cocktail so take it easy. Byron s 1884 the modern bartender suggests it would also have had a couple of dashes of both angostura bitters and orange curaçao. Drinks of this style never are. The story goes that thomas himself might have invented the cocktail for a customer traveling to the port city of martinez calif.

Though there is nothing wrong with a martini i ve always been a much bigger fan of another classic and more complex cocktail that was actually the predecessor to what became today s martini the martinez. This recipe from jonny raglin of comstock saloon in san francisco stirs together two parts old tom gin with one part sweet vermouth a few dashes of orange bitters and some maraschino liqueur then serves it up. Read on for the recipe. Party recipes easy recipes h ailed historically as the precursor to the classic martini the origins of the martinez can be traced back to the us in the mid late 19th century.

As you might imagine with a cocktail made entirely of liquor the martinez is not a low proof cocktail. You then add a teaspoon of maraschino liqueur and either angostura or orange bitters. It s likely the original martinez was based on dutch genever rather than english old tom or dry gin and o. If using a 30 proof vermouth 80 proof gin and 64 proof maraschino you can estimate that the martinez has an alcohol content of about 31 percent abv 62 proof.

There s a lot of discussion and some dissension about the origin of the martinez cocktail. It s made with gin and vermouth and is served up without ice so there are certain similarities for sure.