The Spirits #103: The Martinez

~ Same As Manhattan Only You Substitute Gin for Whiskey ~ The Smell of Maraschino in the Morning ~ My Near-Namesake ~

~ THE MARTINEZ ~

50ml Italian vermouth
25ml gin
5-10ml maraschino
Dash Angostura bitters

Freeze a coupe. Place all the ingredients in your mixing vessel, fill halfway with ice, and patiently stir for for 20 seconds. Strain into the coupe and garnish with a maraschino cherry. You might spritz a bit of lemon peel over it too, before discarding.

Some Martinez Notes:

1) The Martinez pre-dates the Martini, first appearing in print back in 1884. It was listed in O.H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender as a variant on the Manhattan with gin subbed for whiskey. The precise history becomes confusing, as David Wondrich readily concedes in his authoritative entry on the Martini in his Companion; suffice to say, all three cocktails, Manhattan, Martinez, Martini, came to prominence in New York City clubland in the late 19th century and while the Manhattan and Martini endured, the Martinez variation sort of fell into obscurity before it was rescued by a few diligent bartenders with an eye for the archives.

2) Committed readers will note the similarity with a Godwin favourite, the Gin & It, an English vernacular variant on the gin and Italian vermouth combination. In order to firm up the rather slippery distinction between the two drinks in my mind, I choose to think of the Martinez as a vermouth cocktail a opposed to a gin one, hence the reversed proportions - with the maraschino lending a little extra sweetness.

3) Old-time Martinez recipes often call for Old Tom gin, the sweeter, Victorian style of gin which has a more licoricey flavour profile. You might add a dash of absinthe for a similar effect? Or - and here is a good tip. If you happen to have Dutch gin, a.k.a. genever, it is excellent in this context. Dutch gin is what all gin once tasted like. Like traditional pot-still vodkas (e.g. Vestal and Polugar) or Irish poitín it has a pronounced malt flavour, more akin to unaged whisky than your modern gin, which is made with a neutral base (distilled as it is in column stills). It can be a little smelly-sock like on its own but here it works a treat, anchoring the sweetness in the earth.

4) I love the smell of maraschino! Almost more than the taste. There is something about it that just makes me excited.

5) Again, this is another brief entry. You may wish to know that my surprisingly prolific near-namesake, Richard Goodwin (the Martinez to my Martini!), has written a piece for ES Magazine about how social media is over. Maybe. Hopefully. While Twitter and Instagram are too useful to quit entirely, I can feel my addiction beginning to ease.

As I paused between filters (Clarendon or Ludwig?), and hesitated over which song would best advertise my superior taste (‘This is a Low’ or ‘Under the Westway’?), a feeling of overwhelming futility came over me. Why am I doing this? Who am I impressing? And also: who am I upsetting and who am I irritating? What, in short, do I hope to achieve by flinging my little bit of content into the void?

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🖊️I am Richard Godwin.
🧋My instructions for sugar syrup, ice, grenadine, orgeat, etc are here.
🧑‍🏫 My 10 RULES FOR MAKING COCKTAILS are here.
⚗️ My bottle recommendations are here.
📃 The full A-Z recipe archive is here. 
➡️ Please find a round up of organisations helping Ukrainians here.

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