Classic cocktail · Guided recipe
Martinez
Start makingThe Martini’s sweeter ancestor: gin and sweet vermouth with a touch of maraschino and bitters. Richer and more aromatic than its famous descendant.
In the glassGin · Sweet vermouth · Maraschino liqueur · Orange bitters
See exact amounts
What goes in
Ingredients
Set up before you pour
Use a martini glass.
The stem protects a cold up drink from your hand; the open V-shaped bowl presents its aroma immediately.
- Standard size
- 180 ml6 oz
- Ice & serve
- Chill it first; serve without ice.
- If you don’t own one
- Use a coupe or another small stemmed cocktail glass.
- cocktail shaker
- strainer (or a small sieve)
- jigger or measuring spoon
- Gin45 ml
- Sweet vermouth45 ml
- Maraschino liqueur8 ml
- Orange bitters1 dash
From bottle to glass
Method
- 01
Measure into the shaker Pour 45 ml gin into your shaker
Gin
- 02
Measure into the shaker Add 45 ml sweet vermouth
Sweet vermouth
- 03
Measure into the shaker Add 8 ml maraschino liqueur
- Maraschino liqueur
- 04
Measure into the shaker Add 1 dash orange bitters
Orange bitters
- 05
Ice the shaker Fill the shaker with ice
- 06
Seal and shake Seal and shake hard
- 07
Strain cleanly Strain into a chilled glass — no ice
- 08
Finish the drink Finish it — add a lemon twist
Know your drink
About the Martinez
Where the Martini started
Print history puts the Martinez in Jerry Thomas's 1887 guide, and the family resemblance to the Martini is hard to miss: same gin, same vermouth, less sugar with each passing decade. Direct ancestor or side branch, nobody has settled it. What is settled is the direction of travel. Cocktails got drier through the twentieth century, and this is what they were drier than.
Modern bars usually pull the vermouth back to two parts gin, one part vermouth, which suits contemporary palates and drier gins. Equal parts, as written here, is the older shape and the one that makes the maraschino make sense. Try it both ways in the same sitting before you decide which one you actually want.
Common questions
Martinez FAQ
Should I use Old Tom gin or London dry?
Both are defensible. Old Tom is lightly sweetened and rounder, which is closer to the gin style that was common when the recipe was first printed. London dry gives you more juniper bite against the vermouth, and most people find it the more drinkable version today.
Mine came out cloying. What do I fix first?
Cut the maraschino before you touch anything else. Eight milliliters is already assertive and a heavy hand turns the whole glass into cherry candy. If it's still sweet, drop the vermouth to 30 ml and add a dash of orange bitters, which reads as dryness even though it adds none.
Can I leave out the maraschino?
You can, but then you've made something closer to a sweet Martini. Maraschino is what gives the Martinez its nutty, faintly funky cherry-pit note. If you don't own a bottle, a bar spoon of good cherry syrup gets you part of the way, though it will taste more like fruit and less like almond.
How long does an open bottle of sweet vermouth keep?
About a month in the fridge, cap on. It's wine, and it oxidizes like wine. A Martinez is half vermouth by volume, so a tired bottle shows up immediately as a flat, stewed-prune taste. Buy the 375 ml size if you only make these occasionally.
What ingredients are in a Martinez?
A classic Martinez calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Gin, 45 ml (1.5 oz) Sweet vermouth, 8 ml (0.25 oz) Maraschino liqueur, 1 dash orange bitters Orange bitters. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.
How strong is a Martinez?
A standard Martinez is roughly 28% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.
Is a Martinez shaken or stirred?
A Martinez is shaken. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.
Sharpen the technique
Skills used in this recipe
Where to go next
If you like the Martinez, try these.
Tuxedo
Half gin, half dry vermouth, plus a bar spoon of maraschino and about two milliliters of absinthe. At that ratio the vermouth isn't seasoning, it's half the drink, so a bottle that's been open since spring will show up in the glass immediately.
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Dry Martini
Cold gin, a whisper of dry vermouth and a lemon twist. The most elemental cocktail there is — the quality of the gin is the whole drink.
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Aviation
Gin, maraschino, a whisper of crème de violette and lemon — a pale sky-blue classic from the golden age of flight. Floral and tart.
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