Dirty Martini

The history of the Martini is uncertain, although it seems to date to the mid 1800s and the days of the "California Gold Rush." Some "claims" to the beginning of the famous cocktail have connections to the city of Martinez, California, in the San Francisco area, with one claim being that the drink was invented in Martinez, and another claim being that it was invented in San Francisco for a man on his way to nearby Martinez. Of course, the name supposedly was taken from the city and eventually morphed into "Martini." Another theory has the drink named for the brand name of one of its component parts, "Martini & Rossi" Vermouth, which had the name shortened to simply "Martini" for the drink. Olives were a common garnish for a martini and later some of the brine was added to the drink, which made it a bit murky; thus, "the Dirty Martini." Some say this version of the martini started in New York City.    

When I went to buy some olives, I decided to go to a place that stuffs their own olives, of which they have quite a number of varieties. I asked the clerk about every variety and after a lengthy explanation by her, I took a a small of number of the pimento stuffed olives. She seemed a little miffed that after all of her explanations, I hadn't bought much, and when I commented how it's so interesting that her shop stuffs their own olives, she handed me a pitted olive and said, "Here... take this olive and stuff it!" I answered, "But you haven't given me anything to stuff it with," which drew her reply of, "You don't get it." By damn, I didn't get it and I still don't!

I'm not a big fan of gin, so I often use vodka for such drinks. I'm also not much for strained drains, so I prefer to have them on the rocks; that is, the drink is served over ice cubes in a glass. 


Ingredients (per drink):

3 ounces of gin (or vodka)
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
1/2 ounce olive brine
2 stuffed olives
 
You can put the gin, vermouth and olive brine into a mixing cup, stir, strain into a glass and garnish with a couple of olives in the glass or on a pick. Or you can put the gin, vermouth, olive brine and olives into a glass with ice cubes, stir and serve. 

WORD HISTORY:
Vermouth/Wormwood-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, although it is assumed to be a compound, with the first part being related to "worm," or perhaps to "warm." The word "vermouth" is really just a form of the word "wormwood," the common English name for an herbal plant used in certain medicines and in the production of the alcoholic beverage "absinthe." The word "absinthe" is from the scientific botanical name of the wormwood plant. The word "wormwood" goes back to West Germanic, but again, what the West Germanic form was is unknown. Old English had dialectal forms "wermod" and "wormod," which then became "wermode," before the modern form "wormwood." Old High German had "wermuota" (meaning, "wormwood"), which then became "wermuot" and finally modern "Wermut." French borrowed the word from German as "vermout," and then "vermouth," which was used for a type of white wine flavored with wormwood herb. English borrowed the word "vermouth" from French in the early 1800s, with the same meaning. As I mentioned above, the first part of the word has long been associated by many with "worm," and the connection seems to be that the wormwood herb was used to treat people with worms (I would assume that was a common problem centuries ago). On the other hand, some have associated the first part with "warm," with the connection being the "warmth" brought on by consuming wormwood; and indeed, it was also used to induce sweating. Other West Germanic relatives: Low German "Wörm," Dutch "vermout" (seemingly borrowed from either French or English), and as already mentioned, German "Wermut."