The Martini was invented during the 1849 Gold Rush in San Francisco. Legend has it that an astute barman created the drink on impulse when a gold miner, having walked into a bar in Martinez, heard that there wasn’t any Champagne. The barman offered him something ‘much better than champagne‘ and mixed him a “Martinez Special” – the miner loved it and ordered a drink for everyone in the bar. When the miner arrived in San Francisco, nobody knew what is was and he had no alternative other than to give (what he thought was) the recipe to the barman.

One part very dry Sauterne wine and three parts of Gin, stirred with ice and finished with an olive became the recipe for the newly created Martinez that later became the Martini. In the words of Somerset Maugham “martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other,” and with that he proved James Bond wrong – if, however, that was what Bond wanted. Now whether you want you cocktail stirred or whether you want it shaken is surely your own prerogative, save to say that purists insist that a Martini should always be stirred even though the Vermouth would probably be more evenly distributed by shaking! Be that as it may, here’s our recipe for a Martini!

Ingredients

• 1 bottle Vermouth, well chilled
• 1 bottle Gin, well chilled
• Green olives
• 1 previously chilled glass
• ice

Method

• Pour 1 tot of Vermouth into your chilled jug.
• Place ice to taste in the jug and stir with a cocktail stick.
• Pour in 2  tots (3 if you must) of  Gin and stir briskly.
• Put 2 olives in each glass and stir the Martini yet again.
• Pour into two Martini glasses and serve.