Vodka Martini

Vodka Martini

A vodka Martini
Type	Cocktail
Primary alcohol by volume	Vermouth Vodka
Standard garnish	Olive or lemon twist
Standard drinkware	Cocktail glass
Commonly used ingredients	6 cl (6 parts) vodka 1 cl (1 parts) dry vermouth
Preparation	Straight: Pour all ingredients into mixing glass with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain in chilled martini cocktail glass. Squeeze oil from lemon peel onto the drink, or garnish with olive.

A vodka Martini, also known as a vodkatini or kangaroo cocktail,^[1] is a cocktail made with vodka and vermouth, a variation of a martini.

A vodka Martini is made by combining vodka, dry vermouth and ice in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass. The ingredients are chilled, either by stirring or shaking, then strained and served "straight up" (without ice) in a chilled cocktail glass. The drink may be garnished with an olive, a "twist" (a strip of lemon peel squeezed or twisted), capers, or cocktail onions (with the onion garnish specifically yielding a vodka Gibson).

The vodka martini has become a common and popular cocktail, but some purists maintain that, while it is a perfectly fine drink, it is not a true Martini, which is traditionally made with gin.^[2][3][4]

In creative works

• James Bond famously drinks a "vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred."^[3]
  • The phrase first appears in the novel Diamonds Are Forever (1956), though Bond does not actually say the line until Dr. No (1958) but says it "shaken and not stirred" instead of "shaken, not stirred." It was first uttered by the James Bond character played by Sean Connery in Goldfinger in 1964, though the villain Dr. Julius No offers this drink and utters those words in the first film, Dr. No, in 1962.
  • Josiah Bartlet of the television show The West Wing takes exception to Bond's preference in Martini, saying "Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it."^[5]
• On the American television show I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie makes vodka Martini gush from a rock in the desert for Captain Nelson, calling it his "favorite potion" (though at the time he needed water).
  • A pink-colored, fruit-flavored variant of the vodka Martini is named the I Dream of Jeannie Martini.

Close-up view of a vodka Martini

See also

• Lemon Drop – a similar vodka-based cocktail prepared with additional ingredients

References

1. Heugel, Bobby. "Bobby Heugel's Weekly Cocktail: The Kangaroo Cocktail". Retrieved 6 September 2012.
2. Wonderich, David, "Vodka Martini - The Wonderich Take," Esquire
3. Cocktails a Complete Guide to Bartending with Over 500 Cocktail Recipes. Boston: MobileReference.com. 2007. ISBN 1605011045.
4. Buffo, Peter (May 2004). "That martini mystique". Orange Coast: 174.
5. Allison, Keith. "MARTINI & MYTH PART 3: SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED". Retrieved 7 October 2016.