Knickerbocker Martini

The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett, 1934

3 parts gin

1 part dry vermouth

1 part sweet vermouth

2 to 3 dashes of aromatic bitters

1 lemon twist, for garnish

Place the gin, vermouths, and bitters in a mixing glass, fill it two-thirds of the way with ice, and stir until chilled.

Strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with the lemon twist, and enjoy.

“How about shaking up a drink?”

She mixed some cocktails. I was on my second or third when she came back from answering the telephone and said: “Your friend Mimi wants to talk to you.”

Hammet’s Thin Man tells the tale of private detective Nick, and his wife Nora, during the days of Prohibition, when few took such laws seriously. The book refers to them constantly pouring cocktails for themselves and others, while also trying to solve the mystery of the murder of an old client’s secretary. The book is short on specifics for which drinks are involved, while the film adaptation from the same year goes into much more detail about their preferred beverages. The always-tipsy couple enjoy their Martinis, among other drinks, so this seems a perfect moment to celebrate the classic cocktail.

According to one legend, the Martini was invented at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York, by a bartender named Martini di Arma di Taggia. When he served one to John D. Rockefeller in 1906, Rockefeller was so enamored of the drink that he insisted on naming it after the bartender.