Roosevelt Martini
Stir ∙ 3 min ∙ 36.4% ABV ∙
The Roosevelt Martini stirs London dry gin with a small measure of dry vermouth at a high 5:1 ratio, served up with two olives. Cold and bracing, with juniper leading and only a whisper of vermouth's herbal tang before a clean, faintly briny olive finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Stir all ingredients with ice: London dry gin 75 mlDry vermouth 15 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Garnish with two olives on a cocktail stick
Tips
- Pre-chill the glass fully before straining — with no ice in the finished drink, a warm glass is the fastest way to flatten it.
- Stir, don't shake — a slow stir chills and dilutes without clouding a drink this spirit-heavy.
- Fine-strain carefully so no ice shards slip into the glass; the drink relies on the stir's dilution alone for balance.
- Skewer the two olives just before serving so they stay firm rather than sitting in the gin and softening.
History
The Roosevelt Martini takes its name from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was known for mixing his own cocktails and reportedly favored a vermouth-forward martini finished with a splash of olive brine. No codified creation story, bar, or bartender for this specific gin-and-dry-vermouth variation is documented; it exists as a named riff traceable to Roosevelt's personal habit rather than to a single dated origin.
The drink is a variation on the Dry Martini, whose own origin is disputed among several claimants and is generally traced to gin-and-vermouth cocktails served in American bars in the late 19th century. Where the classic Dry Martini is built to be crisp and minimally sweet, the Roosevelt Martini follows Roosevelt's reported preference for a heavier proportion of vermouth accented with briny olive character.
