DRINKS // Martinis
Anatomy of the
martini One of the cocktail canon’s heroes, martinis are as customisable as they are ubiquitous. WORDS Madeline Woolway
DRY, DIRTY, PERFECT. With aromatic
“When the scope of gins and vermouth
bitters or without. Add an olive garnish or
are so vast, the person behind the bar likely
the same — a highly recognisable drink. But
to go together,” says Casben. “You’ll have to
lemon twist. In spite of the tweaks, it’s all
when it comes down to it, there’s only one martini: it’s gin and dry vermouth, stirred. While there’s only one martini, the
journey is infinitely customisable in an era where the number of gins and vermouths
has a better idea of how everything is going rely on the bartender to tell you how gins that are completely different are going to stack up in what most people think is the same drink.”
the vermouth in proportion. Whether the chosen gin is a traditional London style, one that’s heavy on Australian natives
or more floral than citrusy, the chosen
vermouth can play any number of roles:
it might support, highlight or contrast the gin’s profile, it might give the drink more
body or it might make it seem drier. These complexities mean experimenting isn’t a
has exploded.
To begin with, not all gins are made for
really light vermouth, it's going to be a
gins are very funky,” says Agostino Perrone,
implications will be if you change an
London. Some gins may taste nice on their
says Casben. “So, what’s happening if
“If you have a high proof gin with a
completely different drink to a standard
proof drink with a richer vermouth; and we haven’t even talked about the proportions
yet,” says Charles Casben, owner−operator of Moya’s Juniper Lounge, a gin bar in Sydney’s Redfern.
The plethora of choices that can be
made within the constraints of a relatively simple drink is what makes martinis a true bartenders’ drink. “It leaves a
martinis. “Nowadays, the profile of some head mixologist at The Connaught in
own, but will lose their X-factor when
diluted. Others will work with tonic, but clash with vermouth. “You need to find
your style of gin,” says Perrone. “Based on
that, the vermouth element is key. With the wrong match, even though vermouth is the
smaller quantity, you can ruin the cocktail.” The answer is to experiment; to focus
matter of messing around.
“Trying to understand what the
ingredient is fundamentally important,” you change the type of gin? What are you
changing? The alcohol content? If you put more vermouth in, is that changing the
palate weight of the drink or the herbal
nature? If you use a really herbaceous gin
and a really light vermouth, are you going to end up with a similar drink if you used
a really herbaceous vermouth and a really
lot more reliance on the education of
on finding out why some combinations
mixologists to know what combination
vermouth is equally important, it’s
Thankfully, the technique is surprisingly
not surprising given it usually outweighs
Bond franchise has confused the matter to
the bartender,” says Casben. It’s up to
of gin and vermouth will work in what proportion and with what garnish. 20 | Hospitality
work and others don’t. Although the
common to start with the gin — that’s
light gin?”
simple in comparison. While the James
