How to Make a Classic Vodka Martini

A vodka martini is the simplest cocktail anyone can ruin. Three ingredients (vodka, vermouth, garnish), one piece of glassware, one technique — and yet most home martinis are over-shaken, under-chilled, or made with vermouth that's been sitting in the fridge since the Obama administration. Here's the technique, the proportions, and the ingredient choices that make a classic vodka martini taste like the thing it's supposed to be.

Ingredients

• 2.5 oz vodka (a craft pot-still vodka makes a noticeable difference — we use Oasis Vodka)
• 0.5 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry, Noilly Prat, or Cocchi Americano)
• 1 dash orange bitters (optional)
• Lemon twist or three olives
• Ice

Method

1. Chill a coupe or martini glass in the freezer for ten minutes minimum.
2. Fill a mixing glass two-thirds with ice. Add vodka, vermouth, and bitters.
3. Stir gently for thirty seconds.
4. Strain into the chilled glass.
5. Garnish with a lemon twist (rub the rim and drop it in) or three olives on a pick.

Notes

Buy fresh vermouth. Vermouth is fortified wine. It oxidizes once opened. A bottle of vermouth that's been sitting in your fridge for six months is the single most common reason home martinis taste off. Buy small bottles, refrigerate after opening, and replace every two months.

Stir, don't shake. Shaking aerates and over-dilutes a vodka martini. Stirring produces the cleaner, silkier texture that defines a classic.

Glass temperature is everything. A room-temperature glass will warm a perfectly mixed martini in thirty seconds. Freeze the glass.

Variations

• Dirty martini. Add 0.25–0.5 oz olive brine. Garnish with olives.
• Dry martini. Less vermouth (0.25 oz, or just a rinse).
• Wet martini. More vermouth (0.75–1 oz). Lower-proof, more aromatic.
• Gibson. Same recipe, garnished with cocktail onions instead of lemon or olives.

Where to next

Try our date vodka martini variation, learn the difference between vodka and gin martinis, or shop Oasis Vodka.