Martini's Slogans & Taglines

The martini is one of the world's most iconic cocktails, tracing disputed origins to the late 19th century. Some credit bartender Jerry Thomas at San Francisco's Occidental Hotel around 1863, while others point to the Martinez cocktail at the Martinez Hotel in California. The classic formula—gin stirred with dry vermouth and garnished with an olive or lemon twist—crystallized by the early 20th century. Its cultural evolution is inseparable from the "shaken, not stirred" directive immortalized by Ian Fleming's James Bond in 1953, which popularized the vodka martini variant. The drink's proportions have shifted from the 1:1 "wet" style of the 1920s to the increasingly "dry" preference of mid-century America, culminating in Churchill's reputed mere glance at a vermouth bottle. Core expressions span the Dry, Extra Dry, Dirty (with olive brine), Perfect (equal sweet and dry vermouth), Gibson (pickled onion), and the Espresso Martini. Today, the martini remains a universal symbol of sophistication, immortalized in literature, cinema, and bar culture worldwide.