The Martini: A Somewhat Factual History

Round 4: The Martini Meets the Melting Pot

Article By: Mike Hamer

At no time in the martini’s nearly 150-year history are its chameleon qualities more evident than they are today. Look around. The martini is ubiquitous. Lounges are in full vogue. Recipes exist by the jigger full. Fire up the search engine and you’ll find a world filled with all things martini -- martini books, martini music, martini jewelry, even martini underpants.

Indeed, since the merciful decline of the Disco Days and the subsequent dawn of rehab and the coke whore, the martini has regained and enjoyed unprecedented popularity. Sidle up to the bar after work tonight and you’ll see that its mutations and manifestations run the gamut. It’s been yuppified and feminized into gaily-colored concoctions, like the Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop and the Apple-tini. It’s been cajun-ized with jalapenos. It’s even been white-trashed with pork chunks and, we swear, Spam (and not the internet kind either). And look at who’s drinking them – Baby Boomers, Yuppies, Gen-Xers, Republicans, Democrats, rednecks, posers, wannabes, bohemians, the handicapped, straights, lesbians, the whole damn lot!

What caused this martini rebirth? Is it a response to the times in which we live? A reflection of the melting pot coming to a full boil? Or could it just be an attempt to tap into that Hefner-playmate-firelight-silk-sheets-with-a-cigarette-in-the-afterglow-vibe? The answer to each of these, of course, is an unequivocal yes and a resounding no. Hey, it’s the martini, after all. It’s your call.

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