Easy and Delicious Dirty Martini Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the formula for a dirty martini? ›

In a mixing glass filled with ice, pour the gin, dry vermouth, and olive juice. Stir well for at least 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled co*cktail glass.

Best Vodka for a Dirty Martini: Grey Goose Vodka

"The minerality of Grey Goose lends itself perfectly to a dirty martini, which I make using a high-quality brine, like Dirty Sue, which was created by a bartender and formulated specifically for use in co*cktails.”

It's almost easier to make a bad dirty martini than it is to make a great one. Adding that touch of olive brine can make the co*cktail too salty or impart the stale, musty taste of olives bottled during the last century. Your dirty martini can also suffer from being the wrong temperature, too boozy, or out of balance.

Stir together vodka, dry vermouth, brine, and olives in a mixing glass. Pour into a glass or shaker with ice. Serve on the rocks, or strain into chilled co*cktail glasses. Enjoy!

Perfect Martini

Calls for 2 ounces gin, 1 ounce dry vermouth, 1 ounce sweet vermouth, ½ ounce Luxardo maraschino liqueur, and 2 dashes Angostura Bitters. Serve with a lemon twist.

“Dry Sherry is about as close as you can get [to vermouth],” Bezuidenhout says. Other fortified wines like Lillet blanc, Cocchi Americano, and even a white Port work as well.

The Dirty Martini features gin or vodka, dry vermouth, and olive brine.

Ketel One Vodka

It doesn't really get more tried and tested than Ketel One – they've been around since 1691! A mixology mainstay around the world for its versatility in co*cktails, their neutral flagship liquid is deliciously creamy with subtle honied citrus and a smooth finish that makes drinking it dangerously easy.

Is Kirkland vodka really GREY goose? ›

You may have heard a rumor that the Kirkland Signature™ brand vodka sold at Costco is actually GREY GOOSE® Vodka, just in different packaging. We can definitively put this myth to rest. This viral claim is completely false, and GREY GOOSE® Vodka does not produce nor privately label Kirkland vodka.

An unusual Style of bitters with Savory Notes

These olive bitters are primarily an attempt to uplift the look and texture of a Dirty Martini co*cktail.

4. There is a fine line when it comes to brine, and this drink can go from delightful to disgusting really quickly. Customizable with gin or vodka, a touch of vermouth and defiled with olive juice, if you like your martini dirty, you're hip, swanky, stylish… hungry?

In all martinis, you're looking to complement your spirit with your garnish rather than overpower. Never is this more important than with citrus. Gin and vodka are perfect partners for citrus, the oils brightening the spirits, adding freshness and zing.

At its most basic level, a martini co*cktail tastes like its principal ingredient: vodka or gin. You will also be able to pick up on the herbaceous and slightly sweeter taste of the vermouth (a fortified wine). Additionally, co*cktail garnishes can go a long way in changing the flavor profile.

A dry martini means that it is less sweet, containing less dry vermouth (which is called dry itself as it is less sweet than its red counterpart). A wet martini will have a higher amount of vermouth in the mix and a dirty martini means the addition of brine.

In its most classic form, a Dirty Martini adds olive brine to the standard Martini recipe. Some places, such as Bemelmans and Musso & Frank's, will split the dry vermouth and olive brine, substituting a portion of the vermouth with an equal amount of brine.

A classic dirty martini can be made, depending on drinker's preference, with all gin or all vodka, but using half gin, half vodka — with some vermouth and brine — results in a drink that leans a bit fresher and cleaner. (Should you prefer to stick with one spirit, use 2½ ounces of either gin or vodka in this recipe.)