How do you know you walked into a craft cocktail lounge? They feature the Martinez cocktail. How do you know you walked into a hipster nonsense craft cocktail lounge? They feature the Martinez cocktail but they will only make it with their feature gin. Hey. Old Tom used to be hard to find. I mean real hard to find. So, I still get a little excited when I find it on a backbar. I was told to hit this place up if I really liked cocktails. Well I really like everything so I went. This was in one of my favorite towns and this was the first stop of hopefully an amazing night and in a new bar and they had Old Tom. Optimism went even higher. When I get to the barman, I told him that I had glimpsed the Old Tom on the backbar and would like that in a Martinez. He explained to me that they made that cocktail with a locally made gin. I explained that I was familiar with that gin and that it was a nice gin but I did not want it in my Martinez. He politely but firmly insisted that I try it. Me being a man of a powerful thirst would have normally ordered both versions and seen for myself, but I did not feel that the line that had formed as I had worked my way up to the bar would appreciate that so I made the tactical decision of ordering a Talisker 10 year with one of their perfectly clear one inch ice cubes and avoid either digging in or retreating. They did have really nice ice.
Really this is the Grand daddy of all the “Modern Cocktails” from the golden age. It speaks to when there were quality vermouth to be had and people loved gin in virtually any combination. It does call for Old Tom which is a little sweet which until recently was unique. More sweet style gins have popped up on the market recently. Have fun with them and combinations with various vermouth. Because this was such a classic, the original recipe was copied and copied, so much it was like one game of telephone. The only thing that is clear is people liked sweet gin with sweet vermouth, so what you have here is a modern interpretation of what people used to like and the balance I like.
Ingredients
2 oz Old Tom Gin
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Contratto recipe goes back to 1867 when Vermouth had to be good enough to be consumed on its own.
1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino
2 dashes of orange bitters
Garnish
Lemon twist
Glassware
5-7 oz coop glass
Assembly
Chill glass. Fill a shaker with ice and add gin, maraschino, vermouth and bitters to the shaker and stir until chilled. Strain into coop glass.
Suggestions
One of the great things happening in the cocktail revolution is the reemergence of high quality vermouth. For decades the only vermouth in american bars was low quality imports that had sat on the speed rail and withered away into oxidation. Even in Europe there were only a few labels that were hanging on, but now you are seeing labels like Contratto that have not been made for decades being revived to make a more varied industry. Please put all of your open vermouth in the refrigerator, and until they are opened treat them like wine that they are based on.