How To Make: A Classic Dry Martini Cocktail

The classic martini cocktail is a must know for any true retro fan or cocktail enthusiast.  An iconic drink known for it's supreme elegance and cool reputation, everyone from James Bond, Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra to Johnny Carson has had a love affair with the olived one.  Legend has it that the martini is named after an older drink named the Martinez which was named after a Californian town in the early 1800's.  Perhaps the most famous cocktail in the world, the classic dry martini is still finding new favor with fans today and is guaranteed to impress your friends and dance on your taste buds.

Nothing else can channel the 1950's quite like a martini or conjure the image quite like a housewife, slippers, newspaper and martini in hand for her man at the end of the working day or is it the image of the 1920's flapper swept away in a whirlwind of fast cars, faster men and martini's on the run and never forgetting the image of the alpha male smooth operator who is an international man of mystery leisurely enjoying a martini in a crowded bar or at an exclusive VIP only event.  Note that with many varieties of this popular drink around it is the dry vermouth coupled with the green olives that makes this recipe the true original classic martini.
Image: Classic Dry Martinni Cocktail by S. Hensley Copyrite Orsons Retro

How to make a classic dry martini:

Ingredients:
2 and 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1 or 2 green olives

Step 1
Pour ingredients into mixing glass filled with ice

Step 2
Stir for 30 seconds

Step 3
Strain into chilled martini glass.  Garnish with swizzle stick with a green olive.  Enjoy.
Martini Facts:  To turn this cocktail into a Gibson Martini use a cocktail onion instead of a green olive.  A Bone Dry or Desert Martini has no vermouth.  To make the famous James Bond "shaken, not stirred" martini simply place ingredients in a cocktail shaker full of ice and shake for 30 seconds.  This will create ice shards throughout the drink which is the difference.  Strain and serve the same.  The Bond drink is cooler and some martini connoisseurs prefer it this way.  To make a Vespa Martini (the drink invented by Bond in Casino Royale) use 1 oz vodka in place of vermouth and 1/2 oz lillet blanc.  Shake as per previous Bond recipe in ice (no stirring remember!) and strain and pour into a champagne flute.  The Dirty Martini has a dash of olive brine added to the mix.  Other popular martini drinks are the Cosmopolitan, Appletini, Vodkatini, Lemon Drop and Strawberry Martini to name a few. The classic dry martini will always have the aura of a power drink, crisp cool cat sensibility and old world glamour.  Tastes fantastic too.