How to Order a Martini

If I could only have one cocktail for the rest of my life, it would be a gin martini. It’s strong, it tastes like gin and when done right— it’s crystal clear. It’s also a tricky order for both the customer and the bartender.

When I was starting out as a bartender, martinis — and their Kentucky cousin the Manhattan — were by far the most intimidating order, for a couple of reasons. First, people who order these drinks tend to be afficionados, so the pressure was on to make a perfect cocktail. But secondly, and to compound matters, there is no mixer in a martini: this means there’s no room for error. Drinks like these are amazing when they’re done right, and terrible if not — that’s why it’s important to know what you’re ordering.

Martinis come in a variety of formats, so if it’s your first time ordering one, don’t be alarmed when the bartender bombards you with questions! With that in mind, I want to share a few pro tips with you on how a great martini is made, so you can understand what you want and how to get it.

Choose your spirit

Broadly speaking, people want either a gin or a vodka martini. There are others of course, but we’ll deal with those another time. Once you’ve told the bartender which kind you want, you’ll likely be asked if you want a specific brand name. The martini places spirits front and centre rather than hiding behind a mixer, so from the bartender’s point of view there’s a good chance you’re after a specific brand for its flavour profile. If not — don’t worry! They’ll just defer to the house pour (normally a measure of 50ml by the way), and that’s completely normal.

Wet or dry?

Once you’ve chosen your spirit, you’ll get hit with another question: do you want it wet or dry?

Apart from the gin or vodka, martinis contain just one other base ingredient, and that’s vermouth. Vermouth is essentially a fortified, herb infused wine and comes in sweet and dry varieties. For martinis, only the straw-coloured “dry” variety is used, and it’s the amount of vermouth used in your drink that determines whether it’s wet or dry. For a wet martini, the ratio is one part vermouth to three parts vodka — for a dry martini, less vermouth is added. For a super-dry martini, the bartender will often fill the boston (mixing tin) with ice, pour in some vermouth, stir it and then strain out the vermouth, leaving only its coating on the ice. This brings me neatly to our next step.

Ice: friend and foe

In a martini, ice impacts heavily on the final product. The ice needs to chill your drink, without actually being in the cocktail at the end. This is where things get tricky.

With most other drinks, bartenders would throw all the ingredients into the boston and give it the ol’ Tom Cruise. But one idiosyncrasy of the classic martini is that is should NEVER BE SHAKEN. Shaking breaks the ice cubes into miniscule pieces which melt away into the drink and make it watery before it’s even been poured. Shaking will also ruin the drink because it creates millions of tiny air pockets in the liquid, and makes the martini cloudy instead of clear. I got put on glasswashing for three weeks when I did this at my first fancy cocktail job.

The solution? A great martini will be stirred, not shaken. This means we fill the boston to the very brim with ice (the more ice in the vessel, the less it melts) and stir the ingredients until they are both properly mixed and chilled.

Straining

Even after all this is done, we take one final precaution to banish all traces of ice from your end product. Your drink will be “double strained” into the waiting coupe glass (which should also be chilled, by the way) meaning a large strainer is put over the boston to separate the liquid from the remaining ice cubes, while a tiny tea strainer is also placed over the glass to filter out any remaining shards of ice that have evaded capture. Your ice cold, clear martini is nearly good to go!

And finally!

Awkward to its last, frosty breath, the martini demands one further piece of input before it can be served. Olive or twist?

A classic martini of either variety is a clean, aromatic drink and it’s genreally accepted that both the salinity of olives and the sharpness of the oils in lemon zest are a good compliment to its flavour profile. The choice of garnish is yours and there is no right answer here. But if you do feel like finding out which option you prefer, I reckon this sounds like a great excuse to order more than one cocktail.

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So there you have it — the martini explained. From many years of working in bars, it always surprised me to see people getting nervous when they ordered this drink. Cocktails are meant to be FUN, so if you’ve been wanting to try a martini but didn’t fancy the inquisition, now’s your chance to get involved!

Sante!