The Martini Book [antikvár]

THE MARTINI The martini is the quintessential American cocktail. Bom and bred in the United States, the martini has come to represent everything from sophistication to depravity, elegance to wild abandon. Sometimes called a "silver biillet", it's clean, it's cold, and it always hits the mark Presidents and movie stars, journalists and poets, fictional characters and their creators, have all looked to the martini for inspiration, release, love, humor. No other cocktail has such a complicated folklore. No other cocktail engenders the kind of passion true martini purists exhibit when mixing or discussing their unique ways of making a martini. The origin of the martini has been the subject of much debate. It was discovered sometime during the latter part of the nineteenth century, but beyond that one probable fact, the stories of its origin diverge. One of five theories places the martini in the San Francisco Bay Area after the Gold Rush. Another places it in Martinez, California, thus the name. Still another theory credits the bartender at the Hoffinan House in New York aroimd 1880. A fourth story attributes the martini to an ItaUan immigrant named Martini di Arma di Taggia, who tended bar at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York in the early part of the twentieth century. Yet another story has the martini being created in the Netherlands. There is no doubt that gin was developed in the Netherlands, but not the martini. Too much evidence points to America as its birthplace. New Yorkers usually adhere to the Hoffinan House theory, while West Coasters prefer the San Francisco theory. But why and how did this gin drink become a cultural icon? Why not the Rob Roy? The Rusty Nail? The Manhattan? All of these drinks have their place among the pantheon of classic cocktails, but the martini captured the fancy and the taste of the people from the moment it was born, and except for a lapse during the 70s, it's remained the quintessential cocktail ever since. Perhaps its simplicity is what gives the martini its staying power. Perhaps it's the iconic stature of the martini glass. Maybe it's the fact that all you need are the two essential ingredients of cold gin and vermouth to create something sublime. Creating a martini is almost alchemic—from two basic elements, one can create gold or the cocktail equivalent. Whatever the reasons, the martini is here to stay. Many of us will usher in the next millennium vrith champagne. Some of us will toast the new age vrith our silver bul ets.