We had a couple in last week. The guy (who looked eerily like Samuel Beckett) showed up first…with a Rubik’s Cube that had 36 squares on each side instead of 9. I guess you’d call it a 6x6x6? He placed it on the bar and of course I asked to mess it up to see if he could fix it. This is a legendary bartending technique in which you distract the guest in order to talk to them as little as possible. His companion soon joined him and I was off the hook. They started to get a little deep into their sheets, and I happened to be stirring up a Martinez. Sammy B asked me what it was. “It’s a delicious old school cocktail stemming from the Manhattan, a precursor to the modern day martini.” Yeah, I actually said that. I kick ass twice a week and this guy showed up on the wrong day.

Is it true? Yeah, I think so. Although, the specs from back in the day will always be suspect, as I’m pretty sure the liquor they served in the late 19th century was super strong and unpalatable, hence the creation of cocktails in the first place. The original Manhattan, published in O.H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender in 1884, calls for the following:

1 Pony French Vermouth

1/2 Pony Whisky [sic]

3 or 4 Dashes Angostura Bitters

3 Dashes Gum Syrup

A bit odd, no? Like I said, the booze back then was probably super strong and necessitated serious watering down before becoming palatable. It becomes a little bit confusing because there a recipe for Manhattan #2 follows:

(A Small Wine Glass)

2 Dashes Curaçao

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

1/2 Wine Glass Whisky [sic] (also, ?!?)

1/2 Wine Glass Italian Vermouth

Fine ice; Stir well and strain into a cocktail glass.

A bit confusing right? Also, a gigantic quaffer depending on what wine glass you’re using to measure. I mean, people did get totally shitfaced back in those days a direct effect leading to the early onset of the Temperance Movement starting in the 1820s, a religious campaign that occurred not just in America but many other countries swelling eventually to a full fledged ban on alcohol we know as Prohibition in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933. Yeah, people were getting really cocked back in the day. High proof booze, most times homemade and not watered down at all and no real education on how bad it was for you. Again, cocktails may have saved us all from this rot gut with Prohibition itself creating government standards like Bottled in Bond (Ahem, Grand Dad) that are still around today.

“Medicinal Purposes” indeed. They really need to bring this bottle label back into circulation.

In the same book, on the same page right below the Manhattan is the recipe for the Martinez stating:

Same as Manhattan, only you substitute gin for whisky [sic].

This has always been the standard for a Martinez, at least in my opinion. At Rustic our specs are the same as a Manhattan with the exception of orange bitters in place of Ango and the expression of an orange peel instead of a cherry. It’s goddam delicious. Although I do sometimes fiddle with the pours when I’m at home (I don’t measure at home) I had one on my son’s birthday, aptly named “Daddy’s Medicine.” This one uses Barr Hill Gin from my homestate of Vermont, the standard Italian sweet vermouth, a skosh of maraschino, a lemon peel because I rarely have oranges around, and shitloads of Peychaud’s simply because I don’t own any orange bitters. The gin and sweet vermouth are measured out in glugs. Two glugs for each. The whole thing stirred with my finger.

Throughout the history of the oft forgotten Martinez, bartenders have used old tom gin and some say genever is the only way, possibly because these products may have been the only ones available in the early times. I can’t really say as I haven’t dug that deep on the subject. Many other recipes give specs that are split between the sweet vermouth and gin. Who knows really? Also, when the hell did the maraschino arrive? I have no clue, and I’m running out of writing time this morning. You’ll have to do the research yourself.