Dirty Martini

Simple, easy, awesome

I was more than a little skeptical. A martini should contain vermouth, should it not? A martini is made better with gin, is it not? A martini deserves to be stirred, does it not? Perhaps the best martinis are, but the tastiest? Nope.

Guest columnist

Jonathan Terleski

has a banger of a martini recipe lined up for us. It has converted me, and it may convert you too. In his own words:

There are good drinks. There are reliable drinks. There are also good, reliable drinks. The Dirty Martini, as prepared here, is one of these drinks. It’s what I refer to as a Pantry Drink – a drink that requires only ingredients that you will struggle to have expire on you. There’s vodka. And there’s a jar of cocktail olives. The juice from the olives obviates the need for any vermouth and creates a clean, crisp, and pure expression uncomplicated by extraneous components.

In a world full of bitters, infused syrups, shrubs, and freshly-squeezed juices, there’s something satisfyingly reductive about a two-ingredient cocktail that can be conjured almost effortlessly; at almost anytime, at almost any place.

Dirty Martini

• 2 oz vodka

• ½ oz olive brine

• Pimento-stuffed olive, for garnish

Shake vodka and olive brine with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with pimento-stuffed olive (or two, or three) speared on a cocktail pick.
☞ Jonathan Terleski / The Sunken Galley