Martinez, Old Tom Gin and Vermouth Cocktail
Reader ratingsA pony of Old Tom gin, a wine-glass of vermouth, maraschino and bitters, shaken and served with a quarter slice of lemon: the first full Martinez, printed in 1887.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink
- Prep
- Total
“Martine Cocktail”, Plate No. 13 in Harry Johnson, New and Improved Illustrated Bartenders’ Manual (New York, 1900; plate copyrighted 1888).
The story behind the recipe
The Martinez is a sweet gin cocktail of the 1880s, made with twice as much vermouth as gin. Its name reached print in 1884, in O. H. Byron’s Modern Bartenders’ Guide, as a single line under two Manhattans: “Same as Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whisky.” Byron never says which of his Manhattans he means, one heavy on French vermouth, the other half whisky and half Italian. The first full recipe came three years later, in the 1887 edition of Jerry Thomas’s Bar-Tender’s Guide.
Gin in a Manhattan
Thomas sets a pony of Old Tom gin against a whole wine-glass of vermouth, with maraschino and Boker’s bitters. He names no style of vermouth. Byron’s Italian Manhattan suggests the sweet red kind, and that is the reading here.
Two stories, both legend, tie the drink to Martinez, California: one has Thomas mixing it in San Francisco for a traveler bound for the town, the other has a Martinez bartender making it for a gold miner. Thomas did work in San Francisco, but his 1862 book has no Martinez, and the 1887 edition came out two years after his death; The Bartenders Who Wrote Down the Classic Cocktails follows the drink from Byron’s one line to Thomas’s full recipe.
What did follow is on record. Harry Johnson’s 1900 bartenders’ manual prints a “Martini Cocktail” of Old Tom gin and vermouth in equal halves, with an engraved plate captioned “Martine Cocktail” and dated 1888. So the Martinez is a close cousin of the early Martini and quite possibly its ancestor, though no document traces the line.
Read more about this recipe
Twice the vermouth
With two parts vermouth to one of gin, the vermouth leads, and Thomas still offers two dashes of gum syrup “if the guest prefers it very sweet”; that syrup is optional below. Shaken with ice, it comes to about 19% ABV. Old Tom gin, lightly sweetened, is the gin Thomas names. The original Boker’s is long gone; Angostura is the usual stand-in.
The Boulevardier of 1927 Paris kept vermouth and a spirit together in a short glass, while the gin side of the family had gone dry by 1930 in the Savoy’s Fifty-Fifty, which is on TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab).
Martinez Cocktail.
(Use small bar-glass.)
Take 1 dash of Boker’s bitters.
2 dashes of Maraschino.
1 pony of Old Tom gin.
1 wine-glass of Vermouth.
2 small lumps of ice.
Shake up thoroughly, and strain into a large cocktail glass. Put a quarter of a slice of lemon in the glass, and serve. If the guest prefers it very sweet, add two dashes of gum syrup.
Recipe makes: 1 drink
Ingredients
For 1 drink. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink.
- Old Tom gin1 fl oz
- Sweet vermouth2 fl oz
- Maraschino liqueur1/2 tsp
- Aromatic bitters1 dash
- Simple syrup (optional)1/2 tsp
- Quarter slice lemon1
- Ice cubes
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 fl oz Old Tom gin
- 2 fl oz sweet vermouth
- 1/2 tsp maraschino liqueur
- 1 dash aromatic bitters
- 1/2 tsp simple syrup (optional)
- 1 quarter slice lemon
- ice cubes
Equipment
Cocktail shaker
Strainer
Cocktail glass
Instructions
Chill a cocktail glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Pour the Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, aromatic bitters and, for a sweeter drink, the simple syrup into a cocktail shaker.
Add a few ice cubes and shake hard for about 10 seconds.
Strain into the chilled glass, drop in the quarter slice lemon and serve.
Nutrition
165calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof gin and sweet dessert wine (for the vermouth), plus maraschino liqueur.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Keep twice as much vermouth as gin when you scale; shake no more than two drinks at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
A pony is 1 fl oz (about 30 ml) and a wine-glass 2 fl oz (about 60 ml), so the drink is 3 fl oz before ice. Thomas shakes it; stirring with ice for about 30 seconds, as most bars do now, keeps it clear and a little less diluted. London dry gin makes a drier drink.
A modern alcohol-free Martinez: stir 1 1/2 fl oz unsweetened red grape juice, 1 fl oz cold strong black tea and 2 tsp juniper syrup (1 tbsp crushed juniper berries simmered for 5 minutes in 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup sugar, steeped 30 minutes and strained) with ice, add a few drops of juice from a jar of sour cherries, and strain into a cocktail glass with the lemon. Leave out the bitters, which are about 45% alcohol. Juniper is considered safe in food amounts, but medical references advise against medicinal doses in pregnancy, so if you are pregnant, leave the berries out.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment.
Sources and attribution
Jerry Thomas, Bar-Tender’s Guide; or, How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks (New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1887), p. 25; name first in O. H. Byron, The Modern Bartenders’ Guide (New York: Excelsior, 1884), p. 21
See the original pages (scan at Internet Archive) (opens in a new tab)
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Cocktails & Mixed Drinks
- Region
- American
- Era
- 19th century
- Source decade
- 1880s
- Difficulty
- Easy