Nobody knows where the martini – that most classic of cocktails; gin and vermouth with an olive garnish – actually came from. There are debates. Some say it was created in the 1860s, at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, by the bartender Jerry Thomas. Others could have sworn it was named after a bartender called Martini di Arma di Taggia, who used to rustle one up for John D Rockefeller at The Knickerbocker Hotel in New York. The city of Martinez – yes, the city itself – insists that the martini originated within its very bounds. Wherever it came from, though, it’s been around for well over a century. But, for some reason, in 2024, it became the hottest (or coldest) drink of the year. And, more than that, the martini has gotten really, really weird in the process.
I first started noticing the drink creeping into my line of vision towards the tail-end of last year. This wasn’t the classic cocktail of your granddad’s era – the kind favoured by men who fancy themselves as a bit James Bond. No, the martini being pedalled by the It-girls of London, Paris and New York (notably: Hailey Bieber) is a lot dirtier, brinier and more savoury than that. On TikTok and Instagram especially, I’d spot flash-on 0.5 candids of martinis with increasingly elaborate twists: anchovies wrapped around olives and jalapeño slices wedged onto icy rims. Brooklyn’s LilliStar even started selling martinis inspired by hotdogs, with fried pickles and ranch dressing. But that’s besides the point. Martinis have become the drink du jour in every city. But why? And what does the rise of the dirty martini say about the moment we’re living in?
Food writer Lauren O’Neill, who recently did a run-down of London martinis she’s known and loved, reckons it’s because the cocktail gives off a sense of “quiet luxury” and exclusivity – it’s a sophisticated choice basically, and an acquired taste (martinis are the cocktail lover’s cocktail). But also, as she writes in her newsletter Dining Out, “people want the most possible alcohol for their money now that it costs £100 every time you dare to leave the house”. My colleague Anna reckons it’s because, as the younger generation moves into a more mindful era of drinking, we want to make a “moment” out of our cocktails (and what’s more of a moment than a dirty martini with an edible sculpture somehow attached to a cocktail stick?). Others I spoke to suggested it was because it’s a low-cal option, and though we like to think we’re “past” diet culture, in reality that’s not totally the case.
It’s also worth pointing out that little savoury treats in general are having a moment – and the dirty martini sort of fits into that. Gen Z are for some reason obsessed with pickles, and it’s become normal for sceney London bars to have anchovies or olive dishes on drinks menus (shout out La Camionera, who also sell tiny potatoes). If mega-sized sugary drinks – your tequila sunrises, your fruit punches, etc – are currently considered outmoded, then the martini sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. They’re small and salty and sexy – the sort of cocktail that Samantha Jones favours (she actually throws a dirty martini in the face of a cheating lover in season five). They’re the epitome of going out with nothing but a tiny handbag and the urge to gossip. They’re the faux fur coat of cocktails. They’re classic, too, and therefore chic.
As for the best martini in London right now? According to nearly every martini aficionado that I ask, there’s apparently only one answer: Rita’s, the Soho bistro responsible for the rise of the mini martini, and which has a martini option involving jalapeño poppers. So whether you love martinis or have to learn to love martinis, it’s clear that the cocktail drink, which came from God knows where, is this year’s must-have accessory.
