Name: Dirty Martini
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 cocktail
Ingredients: 2½ oz Gin or Vodka (your preference — gin is more traditional, vodka is more popular); ½ oz Dry vermouth; ½ oz Olive brine (from a jar of good green olives); 2–3 Green olives to garnish

Ingredients

2½ oz Gin or Vodka (your preference — gin is more traditional, vodka is more popular)
½ oz Dry vermouth
½ oz Olive brine (from a jar of good green olives)
2–3 Green olives to garnish

Method

1

Chill your martini glassPlace a martini glass in the freezer for at least 5 minutes. A cold glass is non-negotiable.
2

Combine in mixing glassAdd gin or vodka, dry vermouth, and olive brine to a mixing glass or the base of the shaker.
3

Add ice — stir or shakeGin purists stir for 30 seconds. If you prefer a vodka martini, shaking is acceptable — the ice chips add water that blurs the vodka anyway. Stir for a silkier texture; shake for a colder, slightly more diluted result.
4

StrainStrain into the chilled martini glass.
5

GarnishThread 2–3 olives onto a cocktail pick and lay across the rim or drop into the glass.

The Olive Brine Question

The Dirty Martini first appears in recipe books in the early 1900s. The 'dirt' refers to the olive brine, which was originally added to a standard gin Martini. By the mid-20th century, vodka had become the more common base — but classicists still insist on gin, arguing that the botanical complexity plays better against the saline brine than neutral vodka does.

The quality of the olive brine matters enormously. Use brine from a jar of proper pitted green olives (Castelvetrano, Manzanilla, or Gordal are all excellent). Never use brine from a can or a jar of stuffed olives with synthetic brine — it tastes industrial. The amount of brine is a personal preference: ½ oz is a starting point; real dirty martini lovers use more.

Variations

🌶️ Filthy Martini

Use 1 oz of olive brine instead of ½ oz. Sometimes called 'extra dirty'. The salt and umami completely dominate.

🫒 Gibson

Replace the olives with 2–3 pickled cocktail onions. A different savoury note — sharper, more vinegary.

🌿 Dry Martini

Omit the olive brine entirely. 5:1 gin to vermouth, stirred. The purist's martini.

🫒 Dirty Martini

The Olive Brine Question

🌶️ Filthy Martini

🫒 Gibson

🌿 Dry Martini