« There is no perfect Martini, but there is a Martini for each of us. You just need to find out what it is ». Here is what the great Martini Cocktail guru, Mauro Lotti says.

Martini is, in fact, one of the few cocktails that in its "original" version has survived the times, fashions and fantasies of the barmen and this is because nobody has the real recipe and nobody can really master Gin Martini! Perhaps this is the real strength of the Martini Cocktail: everyone would like to have the last word, would like to tell it in their own way and believe they are right, but nobody can really do it ... this is exactly what gives him immortality. For example, for 150 years there has been discussion of the amount of Vermouth needed (ingredient from which the name of the cocktail comes), but each of us has his own theory.

And in order not to make a mistake, the right thing would be to ask the martini directly how he wishes to have served him. Lotti, today representative of the Martini company, has, in fact, gained over the years of great experience some beliefs that he keeps sharing and transmitting to every barman. In particular, according to the Maestro, the bar is that "place of recreation for adults, where you go to not feel alone", when children go to bed the purple hour of the day opens, the aperitif, the moment when adults they can go to discharge. The martinians are divided by philosophy of thought but they have one thing in common, which distinguishes them from the rest of cocktail lovers as soon as they enter the bar. They do not order out of thirst, out of boredom or indecision. The martini will approach the counter for a moment of well-being. A look at the recognition and approval barman, looking for someone to trust who will make that moment unique. This is what for Martini lovers is the Martini Cocktail: a ritual, a myth, a legend.

Few certainties

Well, having ascertained the fact that perfection is an Utopia and that every theory about the recipe is an aporia, we can certainly affirm that the much told and celebrated drink is a luxury that can be accessed by respecting two simple rules:

1. the first is in the Martini glass , the glass is known by this name because it is reserved for the preparation of this cocktail. The peculiar cup holds in itself the charm and elegance, a luxury that also reflects the thoughts of those who ordered it. Designed to preserve the second fundamental rule;
2. Martini must be served chilled ! Here the shape of the cup allows to keep the cocktail by the stem of the glass to prevent the heat of the hands from heating the drink. Some even store gin in the freezer, others believe that contact with ice at the time of preparation is sufficient. Think of it as you wish, but it is clear that any Martini that is less icy will be unpresentable.

Philosophies of thought

Everything else ... is NOT boredom, on the contrary!

There are those who prefer it softer, like the supporters of Martini On The Rocks , including Umberto Eco and many other intellectuals. These, in fact, which are used to drinking it in long meetings where thoughts and words vent for long ones, absorb the brute strength of the cocktail by occasionally turning the ice cubes in the glass.

Another issue concerns the " shaken, not stirred " for which some martinians claim that if shaken the Martini is colder, but even here the struggle continues and the freedom of thought is more than absolute so much so that at the antipodes we find those who claim that the Martini is only mixed and that the Shakerato is only that of James Bond.

There is no better or worse, there is only a "different". As different still is the Martini "rested" , neither Shaken nor Stirred simply left to rest in the mixing glass in contact with the ice and then poured filtering it.

Finished with liquids ... the theories do not end: the one that must be added to Martini with lemon zest squeezed on the surface of the liquid, the one that without olive is not Martini and the one that refuses any addition that distracts from the true taste of the drink! Then here the master Lotti immersed in fantasy decides to dedicate another symbol of wealth to Martini: a naked oyster, skewered in a toothpick, on which the mixed liquid is made to drop ( Oyster Martini ).

Vermouth?

Officially called Martini Dry by the IBA, the great myth does not have an inventor, let alone a recipe, but it is generally accepted as a dry cocktail and therefore made predominantly of gin and little, very little Vermouth. How much? Just enough would say some.

And here too the theories leave you speechless: it seems that Winston Churchill to prepare his martini was limited to a symbolic bow in the direction of France, from which came the Dry school Vermouths. Bunuel, another enthusiast, believed that it was enough that the light passed through the bottle of Vermouth to hit the gin bottle, and as a director, leader of surrealism, perhaps he had a little risky reality, but this makes it clear how much attention is given to detail. In many parts of the world, especially in Italy, the customer expects a certain ceremony in the preparation, such as a baptism of gin with Vermouth, where the barman will only have to "wash" the ice in the mixing glass with Vermouth and then throw this last and add the gin to the flavored ice.

All this is the reason why it is believed that Martini is not "drinkable stuff" but to be told.

The origins

There is no documentation of its origins, it is a legend too: some claim that it was invented in Martinez, a city in California, in the mid-1800s by a local barman, Julio Richerlieu. Others argue that it comes from the oldest martinez cocktail, created by Jerry Thomas, based on gin, vermouth, maraschino and bitters (and there are still many supporters of martini with the addition of bitters), a slice of lemon and two drops of syrup . And still those who believe that Martini takes its name from the homonymous Italian barman who created it specifically in 1912 for John D. Rockefeller and who, however, believes that the first Martini recipe is the one proposed in 1884 by OH Byron with two sketches of Curacao, 2 of angostura, half a glass of Gin and a half of Vermouth.

With this it is easy to say that we do not know who its creator really is, nor when he was born.