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Martini The Cocktail Of Choice

There are a lot of drinks on this planet. There’s the Margarita, which is made with tequila. You have one of the basic cocktails – gin and tonic. There’s also the cute-sounding Daiquiri. There’s the Bloody Mary, a concoction that has so many ingredients that you could easily substitute soups with it.

But no other cocktail could reach the level of popularity that the Martini enjoys.

A martini is not just any other cocktail. It is a special mix that has spawned its own culture and is considered a trend unto itself. You haven’t heard of a Bloody Mary party right? But people go gaga over throwing martini parties.

A traditional martini is made by mixing gin and vermouth in ice or “straight up” without the ice. Later on, people began substituting gin with vodka, but martini die-hards prefer gin and insist on calling martini with vodka, vodka martini.

From the original mix, martinis have evolved into an array of flavors ranging from fruity mixes to more sensual mixtures like the chocolate martini.

Whatever the mix, martinis have become a symbol for classic sophistication – even martini glasses can make any liquid look more fashionable and classy. The martini has achieved a feat that no other alcoholic drink could probably replicate. Many prominent figures have publicly expressed their love for martini. According to American reporter, critic and commentator H.L. Mencken, the martini is the “only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.” Literary critic Bernard DeVoto gushed that the martini is the “supreme American gift to world culture.”

James Bond wants it, Winston Churchill loved it, Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed it – the martini certainly holds up to its reputation as the most fashionable cocktail ever created.

But why is the martini as popular as it is?

Some attribute the drink’s fame to the popularity of its base element – gin. It is believed that the gin rose to fame during the Prohibition Era, which took place in the United States during the 1920s until the early 1930s. During this period, the sale and production of alcohol for consumption was prohibited, and the gin, being relatively easy to produce and acquire since it did not need to be aged like most alcoholic beverages, became the most popular drink of the era.

Although the stories regarding the creation of the martini vary, all accounts agree that the drink originated in Martinez, in San Francisco, California.

But even if the true origin of the eternally-trendy martini is unknown, we could all be certain of one thing – the martini is truly everyone’s cocktail of choice.

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