The origin and history of the martini Martinis have been shaken and stirred for 150 years

TODAY is World Martini Day when we celebrate the classic cocktail loved by Hemingway, James Bond and Capt ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce.

Sean Connery as James Bond mixes himself his “shaken not stirred vodka martini in the 1962 film Dr No. Picture: MGM

EVERY year around the world, June 19 is known as Martini Day, a day when we celebrate one of the all-time classic cocktails. This mixture of gin or vodka and vermouth, garnished with an olive or a twist of lemon, has been imbibed for more than 150 years. Considered one of the more elegant and classy alcoholic concoctions it can claim devotees among the rich and famous, actors, writers, politicians, singers and even royalty. It is said that even Queen Elizabeth II likes a dry martini of an evening.

While there have been a multitude of variations in recent times, the original formula was primarily gin and vermouth. Gin, a liquor that derives its flavour primarily from juniper berries, has been around for centuries. The original version, known as genever in The Netherlands and Belgium, was brewed by monks for medicinal purposes. The 17th century Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius is often given credit for inventing the spirit, but the earliest references to genever date before his birth. It is likely, however, that he popularised its use as a medicine or possibly distilled his own and prescribed it to patients.

A classic dry martini with three olives.

English soldiers fighting with the Dutch against the Spanish in the late 16th century during the Eighty Years War developed a taste for genever and took samples home, where English brewers made their own version. The English brew became known as gin, but was much drier than the Dutch or Belgian spirit.

Heavy taxes on imported liquors imposed in the 17th century, and the removal of restrictions on brewing gin, created a gin boom, with many dodgy operators brewing it for mass consumption. This led to a spate of cheap gin shops and serious social problems from excess alcoholic consumption in the 18th century. Restrictions on brewing brought some of the production under control, but an attempt to raise taxes on gin caused riots. Once legitimate brewers took over making gin, it became a favourite of the middle and upper classes and less of a working class drink.

The British took their love of gin around the world, including the American colonies, which is where it met vermouth for the first time.

English actor Roger Moore downs a martini in 1968. Picture: Getty Images

Pierce Brosnon as James Bond with the trademark martini.

Vermouth is said to be a variation on the German word wermut, meaning wormwood, which was used in Europe as early as the 17th century to flavour fortified wines. It was also originally considered a medicine, but later became an aperitif and then a mixer. Italian and French vermouths were considered fashionable in the 1800s.

Italian brewer Antonio Benedetto Carpano is often credited with creating the modern aperitif version of vermouth, distilled from white wine, in 1786.

French herbalist Joseph Noilly created the recipe for the famous dry vermouth later named Noilly Prat in 1855. While in 1863 an Italian brewer renamed its brand of vermouth, Martini, after the director of the company Alessandro Martini.

The first shipments of Martini brand vermouth arrived in the US in the late 1860s and are thought to have inspired the naming of the drink. People are said to have asked for a “gin and martini cocktail”, which eventually was shortened to martini.

But another story is that a miner walked into a bar in Martinez, California, hot from the dusty goldfields and asked for a special drink to celebrate. The bartender mixed him a drink using gin, vermouth and bitters with a maraschino cherry. When he later went to San Francisco the Martinez miner asked for the same at the Occidental Hotel and it became known as a Martinez cocktail. It was written up in a bartender’s guide published in 1887 by the Occidental’s barman Jerry Thomas.

Alan Alda as Capt ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H.

Daniel Craig as James Bond drinks a Vesper Martini (gin, vodka, lillet and a garnish of lemon peel) in the 2006 film Casino Royale.

An alternative tale says it got its name from a barman at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York, Martini di Arma di Taggia, who mixed the first real dry martini in about 1911.

By the 1930s martinis had become a well-known cocktail, with fans including writer Ernest Hemingway. In his 1937 novel A Farewell To Arms the main character drinks martinis, saying “I had never tasted anything so cool and clean. They made me feel civilised.”

Ian Fleming’s hero spy James Bond, who made his debut in the 1953 novel Casino Royale, often ordered vodka martinis, possibly because he had spent a lot of time mixing it up with Russian spies. In many books he also orders gin martinis, but his preference is “shaken not stirred”, in other words mixed in a cocktail shaker with ice.

Popular 1970s TV series M*A*S*H featured surgeon Capt Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda), who brewed his own gin and liked his martinis dry. In one episode he asked a bartender to make him a “A very dry, arid, barren, desiccated, veritable dust bowl of a martini. I want a martini that could be declared a disaster area. Mix me just such a martini.”