Martini with olive at the Connaught Hotel in London.
Photographer: Carol Sachs for Bloomberg Businessweek
The Greatest Martinis in the World
Naren Young—top cocktail consultant, proprietor of New York’s Caffe Dante and martini obsessive—names his favorites from a 20-year career tending bar.
The Manhattan and Negroni may currently be at the top of bar menus, but the martini is still king of all cocktails. The drink, which some say evolved from a whiskey and sweet vermouth concoction around the 1880s, hasn’t gone out of style. But more so than any other beverage, it’s a product that demands exquisite attention to detail. When a cocktail is as simple as a combination of two ingredients—in this case, gin and dry vermouth, with a few more optional ones—those details are key. A great martini transports you on a smooth and seductive wave of aromatic spices and bitter flowers.
As a martini obsessive, one who’s scoured the world over a 20-year career tending bar, I’ve spent an excessive amount of time (and money) thinking about the minutiae that goes into making a perfect one. To reach that point, one needs to consider technique (stirred always, please), temperature (chillingly cold), choice of glass, and ingredients—principally the gin and vermouth but also the garnish—that give the imbiber a sense of place. Your company, music, and location might also make a difference.