How to Make a Proper Martini, Learn from Chanel Adams of The Bamboo Bar

The simplest cocktails are the hardest to get right. So when it comes to a martini, many are particular of what they want. This World Martini Day, we asked Chanel Adams of The Bamboo Bar about how to make a proper martini.

The classic Dry Martini is made with dry gin, dry vermouth, perhaps a dash of orange bitters, and garnished with a lemon twist. It’s normally done with a 5:1 ratio of gin to vermouth but is extremely versatile. There’s really no wrong way to order a Martini, although we could be proven wrong.

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Where does the Martini come from?

It’s still a bit murky who created the first martini. With gin and vermouth becoming bar staples for as long as those ingredients exist, it’s no surprise that many bartenders have come up with some sort of martini one way or another.

Some cite bartender Martini di Taggia who worked in The Knickerbocker Hotel, New York in 1911. He served a stiff drink with equal parts London dry gin and dry vermouth to John D. Rockefeller.

However, the History could also be traced back to the Martinez, another classic drink that has inspired early versions of the martini with sweet vermouth instead of dry, and a bit of maraschino. It was first documented in the 1880s, named after the town of Martinez where the bar was located.

Still, it could just be customers requesting a “Martini cocktail” back in the day. Martini brand vermouth was stocked in bars since 1863, and drinks had much simpler names back then — gin cocktail, cobbler, gin daisy, and so on. It could just be a case of the cocktail with Martini vermouth being popular.

The cocktail has now become every bartender’s essential knowledge, and spawned more variations than we can keep track of. Nevertheless, as the martini is so simple in terms of ingredients, how do you make a good one?

[Hero and featured image credit: Chanel Adams/Instagram]

How to make a proper Martini, according to Chanel Adams of The Bamboo Bar

Chanel Adams is the driving force behind The Bamboo Bar as the venue’s first-ever female manager. She boasts incredible experience working in the drinks and hospitality industry during her time in Hong Kong, being part of the opening team for PDT Hong Kong, as well as having worked with Chef May Chow at the now-defunct Happy Paradise.

So when it comes to making a classic martini, we know we’re with the right person.

What makes a good martini?

I’m a big martini drinker — it’s my favourite drink. I think a martini just has to suit the mood. For me, this [50/50] is a martini I would start off drinking with and be quite comfortable because it’s a bit lower in alcohol.

[The 50/50 martini calls for equal parts of gin and dry vermouth, resulting in a lighter flavour profile, lesser burn, and less booziness, compared to your usual martini.]

How do you normally make a Martini?

I use Tanqueray No. Ten — it’s dry, it’s clean, it’s a bit citrusy. Then, I use a blend of Cocchi Americano and Cocchi Dry. Cocchi Dry is, in terms of dry vermouth, very very light like a very soft wine. Cocchi Americano gives the drink more sugar, more bitterness, and more body overall. I also put in a little bit of orange bitters because I still find the combination a little bit too sweet as the dry vermouth is not so strong in terms of flavour profile. The orange bitters kind of dries the drink out a bit.

What I like about the martini is that it’s very customisable, it’s very personal. For me, a good martini suits the mood. When you’ve had a lot of drinks, a Dirty Martini may be better as you can appreciate the savoury as you keep drinking. But if you’re starting off, something light and a bit lower in alcohol may be nice.

Are some gins more suitable for martinis than others?

For me, a martini needs to be very clean. Certain gins are made to be enjoyed with tonic — something which leans heavier on the spices, Peddler’s Gin, for example. They have Sichuan peppers infused into it. I don’t think they make the best Martinis, but they make some of my favourite gin and tonics.

Tonic water brings out the flavours of the gin. For martinis, you don’t have that much helping you. So, the flavour of the gin has to be something you’d want by itself, and is designed to be enjoyed by itself — something like Tanqueray No. Ten, or Mediterranean-style like Sabatini. Those gins can be sipped on, and can be enjoyed with just a light splash of soda. I feel like that’s what a martini needs.

How do you get the right temperature for a martini?

The temperature is the most important, I’d say. A martini has to be very cold, a Dirty Martini even colder. It’s akin to wine, right? If you drink white wine, you’d want a certain temperature. The alcohol’s going to feel stronger and it will feel heavier to drink.

Getting the temperature right, you have to see what resources you have. In Thailand, the temperature feels quite warm even with air con. The type of ice matters the most. The most simple trick is to find the right dilution and keep it in the freezer. That’s by far the easiest way to make a proper martini. Let it rest at least overnight so the dilution has time to settle.

If you keep your bottle frozen in the fridge without water to dilute, you need to use much bigger ice when pouring it out to stir. That’s the Japanese style of making a martini. Takuma [Watanabe] showed me how he makes martinis, and basically you stir for a very long time with already-cold ingredients, and that’s how you get some of the smoothest martinis.

Are you featuring martinis in your signature menu at The Bamboo Bar?

Our new menu focuses on modern classic cocktails. One of the new martinis will be lighter, more Japanese-y, while the other one [pictured] is more savoury, more smoky from the mezcal, a bit of port wine so it feels drier and has more salinity — something more fitting to drink later on in the evening.

Whenever I come up with menus, they’re menus for the guests— what they would want, what style they would be looking for. This time, I also wanted to do a drink that I also would like. I drink a lot of martinis, so I wanted something that’s like a finisher; something that could be a bit heavier, more complex, but easy to drink despite that it has mezcal and feels closer to a Dirty Martini.

When I brought Takuma over, he made a drink called the ‘Grand Martini.’ So far, it’s the best drink I’ve ever had for a guest shift. He used port wine, and it gives the martini some structure, as well as cognac and some St. Germain. So, I wanted to see what it’s like to use port in a cocktail. I’ve been wanting to do a mezcal-style martini, but always felt like it’s missing some structure. The addition of port gives it a kind of tannin, almost, and is what completes this cocktail.

The Bamboo Bar, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, 48 Oriental Ave, Khwaeng Bang Rak, Bang Rak, Bangkok. Open daily, 5pm-1am (till 2am on Fri-Sat). Tel. 02 659 9000.

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Bangkok