How to Make a Classic Martini: Cocktail Tutorial

Set everything out before you start. You need a bottle of London dry gin, a bottle of French dry vermouth, orange bitters, a fresh orange, and cracked ice. On the tool side, grab a mixing glass, a bar spoon, a jigger, a julep strainer, and a coupe or Nick and Nora glass you can chill in the freezer for a minute or two while you build the drink.

Greg pulls Beefeater London Dry, Noilly Prat French vermouth, and a small bottle of orange bitters - any London dry gin and any French vermouth will do. Older vermouth from the back of the cabinet won't. Vermouth is wine. Once opened, it lasts about a month in the fridge before it goes flat and a little sour, so check the bottle before you pour.

Pour 1.5 ounces of London dry gin into the mixing glass. That's 45 milliliters if you're working in metric, or one full pour on the 1.5 oz side of a standard jigger right up to the rim. Beefeater, Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire - any London dry gin works. The juniper-forward, dry style is what gives a classic martini its bite.

If you prefer a vodka martini, swap the gin for a clean vodka here at the same 1.5 oz pour. Everything else stays the same. Greg's recipe and most pre-Prohibition cocktail books call for gin; vodka became the default in the second half of the twentieth century.

Pour 1.5 ounces of French dry vermouth into the mixing glass on top of the gin. Equal parts gin and vermouth - that's the original Mahoney cocktail from around 1900, before "dry martini" came to mean a glass of gin with a whisper of vermouth.

Greg uses Noilly Prat in the video. Dolin Dry is the other common choice and is interchangeable here. The phrase "dry martini" originally meant the drink used dry London gin instead of the sweeter Old Tom and Jenever styles, not that it used less vermouth. Winston Churchill's gin-only version is a different drink. Make this one first and then decide if you want to dial the vermouth back next time.

Add two dashes of orange bitters straight into the mixing glass. Regan's Orange No. 6 or Fee Brothers West Indian Orange are the two common ones, and either works. Two dashes is the standard - more than that and the bitterness takes over.

Drop in a generous scoop of cracked ice next, almost filling the mixing glass. Cracked ice chills faster than large cubes and gives the bar spoon something to push against for the stir. Fresh ice from the freezer, not the old half-melted stuff sitting in the bin - old ice picks up freezer smells and waters the drink down.

Drop a long bar spoon into the mixing glass and stir gently against the side of the glass for about 20 seconds. You want a smooth, almost silent rotation - no rattling cubes, no splashing. Stirring chills the drink and adds a touch of water from the melt without aerating the gin. Shaking does the opposite and clouds the drink with tiny air bubbles. The classic martini is always stirred.

Pull the coupe out of the freezer. Place a julep strainer over the mixing glass and pour the martini into the coupe in one steady motion. The drink should come out crystal clear and silvery, and stop about a quarter inch below the rim.

Cut a thin strip of peel off a fresh orange with a channel knife or a small paring knife. Avoid the white pith - it's bitter. You want just the colored layer, two or three inches long.

Hold the strip skin-side down over the surface of the drink and twist it firmly between your fingers. The spray of orange oil hitting the surface is what makes the first sip read as a martini. Rub the peel around the rim of the glass, then drop it into the drink or perch it across the rim. Serve right away while the glass is still cold.