The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist.

Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages.  By 1922 the martini reached its most recognizable form in which London dry gin and dry vermouth are combined at a ratio of 2:1, stirred in a mixing glass with ice cubes, with the optional addition of orange or aromatic bitters, then strained into a chilled cocktail glass.  Over time the generally expected garnish became the drinker’s choice of a green olive or a twist of lemon peel.

A dry martini is made with dry, white vermouth.  Over the course of the century, the amount of vermouth steadily dropped. During the 1930s the ratio was 3:1 (gin to vermouth), and during the 1940s the ratio was 4:1. During the latter part of the 20th century, 6:1, 8:1, 12:1, 15:1, or even 50:1 or 100:1.  Some martinis were prepared by filling a cocktail glass with gin, then rubbing a finger of vermouth along the rim. There are those who advocated the elimination of vermouth altogether. According to Noël Coward, “A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy”.

A dirty martini contains a splash of olive brine or olive juice and is typically garnished with an olive.   A perfect martini uses equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth.  A martini may also be served on the rocks; that is, with the ingredients poured over ice cubes and served in an Old-Fashioned glass.

The exact origin of the martini is unclear. In 1863, an Italian vermouth maker started marketing their product under the brand name of Martini, after its director Alessandro Martini, and the brand name may be the source of the cocktail’s name.  Another popular theory suggests it evolved from a cocktail called the Martinez served sometime in the early 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, which people frequented before taking an evening ferry to the nearby town of Martinez, California. Alternatively, the people of Martinez say a bartender in their town created the drink, or maybe the drink was named after the town. Indeed, a “Martinez Cocktail” was first described in Jerry Thomas’ 1887 edition of his Bartender’s Guide, How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks:

Source:  Wikipedia

The One True Martini – by my favorite martini drinker.

“Hearts full of youth! / Hearts full of truth! / Six parts gin to one part vermouth!” (Tom Lehrer)

and a twist of lemon.