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Martinez

Gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino and bitters, stirred — the richer, older drink the Martini came from.

Difficulty
medium
Prep time
4 min
Strength
26% ABV
Glassware
Coupe glass
Base
gin
Serves
1

Related drinks

Ingredients

  • Gin
    45ml
  • Sweet vermouth
    30ml
  • Maraschino liqueur
    5ml
  • Angostura bitters
    2ml

Garnish: Lemon twist

Scale for a party

Method

  1. Chill a coupe glass in the freezer, or fill it with ice and water while you build the drink.
  2. Add the gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino and bitters to a mixing glass with plenty of ice.
  3. Stir for about 30 seconds, until the outside of the glass is properly cold.
  4. Strain into the chilled coupe.
  5. Twist a strip of lemon peel over the surface to release its oils, then drop it in.

Equipment

Don't have everything? Here's what works instead.

  • Mixing glass

    Household swap: Any tall, sturdy glass or a small jug

  • Bar spoon

    Household swap: A long-handled teaspoon or a chopstick

Missing an ingredient?

Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.

  • Instead of Maraschino Liqueur

    Maraschino's dry, slightly bitter almond-and-stone-fruit note is doing something nothing else in a normal cupboard does. Leaving it out gives you a competent gin Manhattan, which is a good drink but not this one. Do not reach for cherry brandy or grenadine — both are sweet where this is not.

  • Instead of Angostura Bitters

    Best substitute: Orange bitters

    This is the bitter element in this drink.

    Quantity: Use the same two dashes

    Flavour impact: Orange bitters make a brighter, more citrus-led Martinez and are what several older recipes specify. Angostura gives more baking spice and depth.

    What changes

    Expect more acidity, less bitterness and less strength. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.

    Acidity ↑
    More acidity makes the drink taste fresher and drier, and can push a balanced sour over into sharp.
    Bitterness ↓
    Losing bitterness makes the drink rounder and more approachable, and takes away the structure that stopped it tasting like squash.
    Strength ↓
    Orange bitters is 35% ABV against 44.7%. A weaker bottle makes a softer drink — genuinely pleasant, but a different drink from the one written down.
    Character
    Both are bitter, aromatic and concentrated, and you lose spiced, and you gain citrus. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Use slightly less of it, or add a touch more sweetener to hold the balance.
    • A dash of bitters restores some of the backbone without changing anything else.
    • Pour a fraction more, or shorten the dilution slightly, to keep the shape of the original.
    High confidenceBoth are documented in period sources; this is a genuine stylistic choice rather than a compromise.Shifts the drink

Make it better

  • Maraschino is not a cherry syrup — it is dry, nutty and assertive, and 5ml is genuinely enough. Doubling it takes over the drink.
  • Sources disagree about the gin-to-vermouth ratio, and older recipes run as far as equal parts. Start at 45:30, taste, and move towards more vermouth if you want it richer.
  • An Old Tom or a richer, more floral gin suits this better than a very dry, juniper-forward modern one.
  • Chill the glass in the freezer for a few minutes beforehand — a warm glass takes the edge off a well-made drink fast.
  • Stir, don't shake — stirring keeps a spirit-forward drink clear and silky instead of cloudy with air bubbles.
  • Express the citrus peel by pinching it, skin-side down, over the drink before dropping it in — this releases aromatic oils across the surface.
  • Adjust sweetness gradually and taste as you go — it's easy to add more syrup, impossible to take it out.

Rescue this drink

Tastes cloying
Cut the maraschino to 3ml and check your vermouth — an open bottle more than a couple of months old turns flat and sweet.
Tastes thin and cold rather than rich
Stir less. Thirty seconds is enough; a minute of stirring dilutes past the point where the vermouth holds up.
The gin has disappeared
Push the ratio towards 50ml gin and 25ml vermouth. Older recipes go the other way, but modern dry gins need more room than Old Tom did.
So cold you cannot taste itgeneral guidance
Spirit-forward drinks served up have a window: too warm and the alcohol burns, too cold and the aromatics stop volatilising and the drink reads as flat and numb. If it arrives correct and improves over the first few minutes, you have over-chilled it — shorten the stir slightly rather than skipping the freezer glass, because a warm glass ruins more drinks than a cold one.
You cannot smell itgeneral guidance
Most of a drink's aroma is on top of it, not in it. Squeeze the peel skin-side-down over the surface before dropping it in — the oil should visibly spray. A twist placed in the glass without being expressed contributes almost nothing. Aroma also fades fastest of anything in a drink, so garnish at the moment of serving rather than in advance.
Cloudy when it should be cleargeneral guidance
Stirring aerates far less than shaking, and clarity is the whole reason to stir. A hazy stirred drink means it was stirred too hard, stirred with broken or wet ice, or shaken by mistake. Move the spoon around the wall of the glass rather than through the middle, and use whole dry cubes.
Too weak or waterygeneral guidance
Add a splash more of the base spirit rather than extra mixer. For stirred or built drinks, over-dilution from ice is the usual cause — try a shorter stir or fewer, larger ice cubes.
Too stronggeneral guidance
Stir or shake for a little longer to add dilution, or add a splash of chilled water. This is a spirit-forward drink by design, so some strength is expected.
Too sweetgeneral guidance
Add a small amount of fresh citrus juice or a dash of bitters to bring the balance back — adjust gradually and taste as you go.
Served too warmgeneral guidance
Chill the glass, ice and every ingredient ahead of time — a warm pour is the fastest way to lose a cold drink's balance. For one serving, there's no real fix beyond rebuilding it properly chilled; for a batch, keep everything refrigerated until the moment of serving and add ice last.
Over-diluted (tastes watery)general guidance
Likely stirred too long, or with too much ice surface area. For one serving there's no fixing it after the fact — rebuild with fewer, larger ice cubes and a shorter stir. Planning a batch? Shorten the ice-contact time across the whole round, not just this glass.
Under-diluted (tastes harsh or too concentrated)general guidance
For one serving, stir in a few drops of chilled water to open it up. For a batch, extend the stir time slightly on the next round.
Missing the garnishgeneral guidance
No lemon twist? Orange twist (Orange leans the drink warmer and sweeter; lemon keeps it brighter and is the more common modern choice.)

Make ahead & storage

Batches well

Everything in this can be mixed days ahead and kept cold. It is one of the drinks to build a party menu around.

Add about 22% water to the batch to replace what the ice would otherwise contribute, or it will pour noticeably harsher than a fresh one.

What it tastes like

The taste, and what drives it

sweet, soft, light — a spirit and modifier drink served straight up, no ice.

Sweet

Dry → Sweet

Openly sweet, and balanced by something else rather than hidden.

What drives it: Maraschino liqueur — carries the most sugar into the glass.

Gently bitter

Gentle → Bitter

Bitterness as structure — it stops the drink tasting like squash without being the point.

What drives it: Angostura bitters — provides the bitterness.

Light

Light → Rich

Light-bodied. It refreshes rather than satisfies, which is usually the intention.

What drives it: Sweet vermouth — adds most of the weight.

Very bold

Delicate → Bold

Very bold — concentrated, and served small for that reason.

What drives it: Gin — is the most concentrated thing in the glass.

What you smell first

  • Citrus peelLeadsBefore the first sip

    From Gin, Lemon twist

  • Juniper and botanicals

    From Gin

  • Fresh herb

    From Sweet vermouth

Aromas marked as sitting above the drink reach you before the first sip — skipping that garnish changes the drink more than its size suggests.

How it was worked out

Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. Almost everything in this drink has detailed ingredient data behind it.

How balance actually works →

If it isn't right

What goes wrong with this drink, and why

Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — each with the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.

This drink is only as good as the vermouth in it

Degrades it

Vermouth is wine and oxidises within weeks of opening. A stale bottle is the single most common reason a stirred drink tastes dull rather than complex.

How to handle it: Refrigerate it after opening, buy the small bottle, and replace it more often than feels reasonable.

  • It's too sweet

    Likely cause
    Maraschino liqueur is carrying the sugar here, and it is the easiest thing in the drink to over-pour — syrup clings to a jigger and a "splash" is rarely the same twice.
    What to change
    Cut maraschino liqueur by about a third and rebuild. If it is already made, a squeeze of citrus is faster than starting again.
    What that does
    It will taste drier and slightly thinner — sugar carries body as well as sweetness, so you lose a little weight along with it.

  • It's too bitter

    Likely cause
    Angostura bitters is doing this deliberately, but bitterness also *builds* across a drink rather than announcing itself — the last mouthful is more bitter than the first even though nothing changed.
    What to change
    Lengthen it slightly, or add a small amount of sweetener. Do not add more of anything sour; acid sharpens bitterness rather than covering it.
    What that does
    The bitterness softens and the drink gets longer. If you were hoping to keep it short and strong, this is the trade you are making.

  • It's too strong

    Likely cause
    Gin dominates by design here — this is a drink built to be sipped, and it is under-diluted more often than it is over-poured.
    What to change
    Stirring for longer, or add a measured 5–10ml of water. Both are the same correction; one is just more honest about it.
    What that does
    Alcohol heat drops and the aromatics open up — a slightly diluted spirit-forward drink usually smells better, not worse.

  • It's watery

    Likely cause
    Stirring adds water while it chills, and the two cannot be separated. Wet ice from a freezer door, or small cubes, will over-dilute before the drink is properly cold.
    What to change
    Use bigger, drier, colder ice and stop sooner. Chilling the glass first buys you time you would otherwise spend diluting.
    What that does
    More flavour concentration at the same temperature. Under-dilute instead and the drink will taste harsh — this is a target, not a direction.

  • It doesn't smell of anything

    Likely cause
    The aroma you are missing is probably citrus peel, which sits above the drink rather than in it — skipping or under-expressing the garnish removes it entirely.
    What to change
    Express the peel over the surface with the skin facing the drink, then drop it in. Herbs go in the glass, not on the side.
    What that does
    Aroma arrives before flavour does, so the whole drink reads as more intense without a single measure changing. The oil does land in the drink, though — an over-expressed peel adds a faint bitterness to the first mouthful.

  • It tastes one-dimensional

    Likely cause
    With 4 components there is nowhere for complexity to hide — a spirit and modifier drink is exposed by design, so a dull one is usually a dull ingredient rather than a missing step.
    What to change
    Change the quality of what is there before adding anything new: fresh citrus rather than bottled, a better base bottle, a dash of bitters. Bitters add layers at a scale nothing else matches.
    What that does
    More going on at the same strength and sweetness. Adding a whole extra ingredient instead usually produces a muddier drink rather than a deeper one.

Taste profile

Sweetness
3/5
Sourness
0/5
Bitterness
2/5
Strength
4/5
Fruitiness
1/5
Freshness
1/5
Creaminess
0/5
Smokiness
0/5

Nutrition & alcohol

Estimate onlyCalculated from standard strengths with roughly 22% stirring dilution; vermouth sugar varies by producer.
Calories
185 kcal
Sugar
8 g
Carbohydrates
9 g
Alcohol units (UK)
2.35
US standard drinks
1.32
ABV
26%
Serving size
90 ml
Show calculation assumptions

Source: Calculated from standard measures

Calorie breakdown: ~129 kcal from alcohol, ~56 kcal from sugar and mixers.

Likely range: 139–231 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.

Assumes gin at 40% ABV, sweet vermouth at 15%, maraschino at 32%, and a stirred dilution of about 22%.

These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.

Variations

  • Martinez with orange bitters

    Two dashes of orange bitters instead of Angostura, as several nineteenth-century sources specify — brighter and more aromatic.

  • Turf Club

    A drier relative from the same period, made with dry vermouth and absinthe instead of sweet vermouth and maraschino.

What kind of drink this is

The structure behind the recipe

A stirred build: a spirit and modifier gin-based drink, served straight up, no ice — silky and dense in the mouth.

Spirit and modifier

Spirit combined with an aromatised or flavoured modifier and little else — concentrated, and served small for exactly that reason.

  • Base

    Gin

  • Modifier

    Sweet vermouth

  • Sweet element

    Maraschino liqueur

  • Bitter element

    Angostura bitters

Drinks built this way are collected as the Martini family.

Technique

stirred

The liquid is moved around the ice rather than against it, so it chills and dilutes with almost no air incorporated and almost no ice broken up.

A heavy, silky, completely clear drink. Alcohol reads more sharply than in the same drink shaken, because nothing has softened it.

What it ruins: Nothing outright, but it will not combine egg, dairy or thick syrup — those need force.

Everything about stirring →How the technique works →

Dilution

During mixing, then strained

Water from ice typically makes up around 25% of the finished drink for a stirred build (commonly 20–30%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.

Why dilution is an ingredient →

Served

Straight up, no ice

Coupe glass · 90ml

Chilled during mixing and then strained away from the ice, so it arrives at its coldest and most concentrated and warms from the first sip — which is why 90ml is the right size for it.

Texture and aroma

Silky and denseLemon twistAngostura bitters

Stirred without aeration, the drink stays heavy and slightly viscous in the mouth.

Aroma arrives before flavour does. A citrus twist is expressed over the surface so its oils sit on top of the drink — skipping it changes the drink more than its size suggests.

Where to go from here

Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.

Where it comes from

Origin and family

Origin of the Martinez

Documented from the 1880s and widely regarded as an ancestor of the Martini. Both the town of Martinez, California and the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco are commonly cited as its origin; the claim is disputed and no single account is settled.

Proportions follow the consensus of modern bar references; period sources vary considerably, including towards equal parts gin and vermouth.

Family

Martini

Spirit · dry or sweet vermouth · optional bitters — stirred, strained, served up.

On drinks history

Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.

History and culture →

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Related tools

Scale this for a party

Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.

Recipe confidence

The drink is well documented, but its proportions genuinely vary across both period and modern sources.

Moderate confidence