The Martinez is frequently credited as a forerunner to the Martini, but like all pre-prohibition cocktails, there’s room for debate. This idea most likely originated from the fact that maraschino liqueur was somewhat hard to track down at the start of the cocktail renaissance. Once it was tracked down, it become apparent that the lack of Old Tom gins might be influencing ability to truly evaluate the drink. In the interim of these two events, it became suggested that perhaps the drink was the predecessor to the Martini. Like all drinks, ingredients matter, and switching to the bolder Old Tom style gin shows this drink has more in common with the Manhattan than the Martini.
Martinez
The Martinez is sweet, spicy, and layered. The complexity of the herbal notes of all the elements vibes into a spiced, layered, and complex flavor. The sweetness from both the old tom gin, and the caramel notes with the sweet vermouth gives a richness. The slight fruitiness comes in, and is somehow bound with the cardamom notes from the Boker’s bitters to bind the entire drink into something more than the sum of its parts.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
The Martinez being one of the forerunners to the Martini is interesting because its incredibly sweet comparatively. Most people tasting this wouldn’t get to dry and clean vermouth from the spice, sweet, and fruitiness. Some of this is driven by the sweet vermouth, but the gin is sweet too. The bitters will help to balance this, but this drink will never quite reach ‘dry’.
- Old Tom Gin – This style of gin is made with licorice, which imparts sweetness more than licorice flavor. The result of this is a softer, smoother style of gin that lends itself well to making a less juniper, more aggressive style of gin. You could use a modern or London dry gin here, and it will turn down the sweetness while adding a bit more juniper.
- Sweet Vermouth – We utilized the more vanilla forward Carpano Antica here (which is our go to), but you can modify some of the flavors present by using a more caramel forward Cocchi or a fruit forward vermouth like Lustau.
- Maraschino Liqueur – The subtle cherry, almond, and spice notes are best in Luxardo’s Maraschino Liqueur (in our opinion). Feel free to use your favorite or what is locally available.
- Boker’s Bitters – Boker’s bitters are one of the most popular pre-prohibition cocktail bitters, and made of cassia, cardamom, and bitter orange peel. When prohibition hit, these bitters disappeared, and weren’t recreated until happenstance allowed the recreation in the early 2010’s. Today prominent recipes exist from Dr. Adam Elmegirab*, and The Bitter Truth. If you can’t find them or aren’t willing to pay to have them shipped, consider using the cardamom favored Regan’s orange bitters and Angostura.
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