This is Effie Trinket’s signature drink!
Furthermore, this is the classic American cocktail. (Just ask Winston Churchill.)
If you want a vodka martini (a la James Bond), that’s fine— but it’s not a martini, it’s a VODKA martini. (Little Duck is a bit of a snob in this regard.)
Today, the girlification of the bartending industry has nearly ruined the martini. Anything that ends in -tini isn’t a martini, people! (Ohhh, now the WASP is coming out of Little Duck and the wop can’t stop it.)
So please, when you make or order a martini, for the love of all that is good and holy, do it properly. Do it by the book. What would Don Draper do? What would Effie Trinket do?
Look at your life. Look at your choices. A martini will always be the right one. Drink it like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and hold your head high.
2 oz. good gin
1/4 oz. dry vermouth
Lemon twist or pimento olive (for garnish)
Stir gin and vermouth with ice, and then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon or olive.
(If someone orders their martini “dirty,” add a little bit of olive juice.)
(If someone orders their martini “dry,” add a bit less vermouth.)
(If you’re wondering, I drink my martinis dry with the olive on the side.)
