10 March 2022

How To Make The Perfect Martini At Home

There’s something undeniably glamorous about a classic martini and if you’re looking to zhush up a Friday night, it might just be the perfect choice. In honour of B Corp month, The Botanist Gin is here to show you how to make one at home – whether you prefer yours straight-up or dirty, or are a complete beginner...

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Created in partnership with THE BOTANIST GIN

The Gin To Use

Popular with bartenders across the capital, The Botanist Gin is distilled and crafted at Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay, Scotland, using 22 foraged island botanicals. The team’s professional forager, James Donaldson, hand-picks the botanicals for the gin throughout spring, summer and autumn, which are then dried carefully before being distilled. The 22 botanicals are slow simmer distilled with pure Islay spring water. The result? A gin that highlights the locality and seasonality of Islay and works just as well in a G&T as it does in cocktails such as martinis, Tom Collins and a French 75.

As of 2020, Bruichladdich Distillery is the first whisky and gin distilling company in Europe to become a certified B Corporation, which means adhering to the highest levels of social and environmental performance, public transparency and accountability.

The Recipes To Know

This is the closest recipe to the ‘Martinez’, the cocktail from which the martini originated. This version is sweeter on the palette with higher tannin levels, allowing it to play perfectly with The Botanist Gin.

Ingredients

45ml of The Botanist Gin

22.5ml of dry vermouth, chilled from the fridge

22.5ml of sweet vermouth, chilled from the fridge

To Garnish

A lemon peel twist or lemon balm

Method

Step 1

Fill a Nick & Nora glass with ice and set aside.

Step 2

Two-thirds fill a mixing glass with good-quality ice cubes, add all the ingredients and stir continuously for at least 30 seconds to allow a small amount of dilution from the ice.

Step 3

Empty the ice out of the glass.

Step 4

Strain into your chilled glass and serve.

The dry martini is the most classic of martini cocktails. It is perfect for people who love the flavour of gin and is the best way to let the balanced flavour and mouth feel of the gin come through.

Ingredients

75ml of The Botanist Gin

15ml of dry vermouth, chilled from the fridge

To Garnish

A lemon peel twist or lemon balm

Method

Step 1

Fill your favourite martini glass with ice and set aside.

Step 2

Fill a mixing glass with two-thirds of good-quality ice cubes and add all the ingredients and stir continuously for at least 30 seconds to allow for the ingredients to combine a small amount of dilution from the ice.

Step 3

Empty the ice out of the martini glass and strain your cocktail into it.

Step 4

Garnish with a lemon twist or lemon balm and serve.

The dirty martini is iconic. Perfect for those who prefer a saltier profile, the olive brine helps the umami notes that can be found in The Botanist Gin shine through. This is a stirred version of the recipe, but it is one of the few martini recipes that some prefer to be shaken.

Ingredients

65ml of The Botanist Gin

15ml of dry vermouth, chilled from the fridge

10ml of olive brine

To Garnish

2 olives

Method

Step 1

Fill a Nick & Nora glass with ice and set aside.

Step 2

Fill a mixing glass with two-thirds of good-quality ice cubes, add all the ingredients and stir continuously for at least 30 seconds to allow a small amount of dilution from the ice.

Step 3

Empty the ice out of the glass.

Step 4

Strain into your chilled glass.

Step 5

Garnish with two olives and serve.

The Gibson martini is named after Walter D.K. Gibson – who was a fan of pickled onions. It takes a classic dry martini recipe and adds two pickled onions as garnish to give a tangy, savoury finish. One way to really customise this three-part drink is by making your own pickled onions. A common practice in cocktail bars, it’s an easy endeavour. Most recipes simply call for soaking or cooking a handful of cocktail onions in a brine of vinegar, sugar and pickling spices. Making your own onions ensures your garnish is fresh and crunchy, imbuing the drink with depth and complexity rather than the artificial sweetness often associated with the jarred versions.

Ingredients

75ml of The Botanist Gin

15ml of dry vermouth, chilled from the fridge

To Garnish

2 pickled onions

Method

Step 1

Fill a Nick & Nora glass with ice and set aside.

Step 2

Fill a mixing glass with two-thirds of good-quality ice cubes, add all the ingredients and stir continuously for at least 30 seconds to allow a small amount of dilution from the ice.

Step 3

Empty the ice out of the glass.

Step 4

Strain into your chilled Nick & Nora glass.

Step 5

Garnish with two pickled onions and serve.

For more information and to buy a bottle of gin, visit TheBotanist.com and follow the brand at @TheBotanistUK on Instagram

Shop The Botanist Gin at Amazon.co.uk or in store at Waitrose.

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