Dirty Martini
A Martini with olive brine stirred in. Savoury, saline and genuinely divisive — and the brine quality matters more than the gin.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a glass thoroughly.
Add the gin, dry vermouth and olive brine to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir for 30 seconds.
Strain into the chilled glass and garnish with two olives on a pick.
A thoughtful finish
- The brine is an ingredient, so use brine worth drinking. Liquid from a jar of decent Castelvetrano or Manzanilla olives is a different thing from the cloudy liquid in a cheap jar.
- Strain the brine before it goes in. Olive sediment makes the drink murky and gritty.
- Start at half an ounce. Dirty is a spectrum, and it is much easier to add more brine than to rescue a drink that has gone over.
Common mistakes
- Using the brine from a jar of pimento-stuffed cocktail olives, which is mostly salt and tastes of the jar.
- Over-brining to the point that it tastes like a salty snack rather than a cocktail.
- Shaking it. Brine foams, and a shaken Dirty Martini turns cloudy and slightly scummy on top.
A few good questions.
How much brine makes it 'dirty'?
Roughly a quarter-ounce is lightly dirty, half an ounce is standard, and an ounce is what people mean by extra dirty. Beyond that it stops being a Martini.
Gin or vodka?
Both work and the choice changes the drink considerably. Gin's botanicals fight the brine in an interesting way; vodka lets the brine and the vermouth lead. Vodka is the more common modern choice.
Can I use the liquid from any olives?
You can, but it is the main reason a Dirty Martini is good or bad. Use brine from olives you would happily eat, and avoid anything stuffed with pimento paste.
What is a Filthy Martini?
An unofficial term, generally meaning a very heavy brine pour, sometimes with muddled olive. There is no standard measure.
Variations
- Martini — No brine.
- Vodka Martini — Vodka base, no brine.
- Gibson — Garnished with a pickled onion instead.
- Bloody Mary — The other great savoury cocktail.
Where it comes from
c. 1901-1930s · New York City · John O'Connor · Waldorf Astoria
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
The usual origin story credits a bartender named John O’Connor at the Waldorf in New York around 1901 with muddling an olive into a Martini, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt is often said to have popularised the brine version in the 1930s — he was a noted and reportedly rather careless Martini maker. Neither claim is firmly documented. What is clear is that the drink was a minority taste for most of the twentieth century and became genuinely popular only from the 1990s onwards.
Sources
- Albert Stevens Crockett, The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, 1935 (book)
- Lowell Edmunds, Martini, Straight Up, 1998 (book)
Strength. About 1.79 US standard drinks at an estimated 27.6% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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