Martini cocktails, martini bars and martini culture
Dorothy Parker, poet, writer, satirist, and undisputed queen of the Algonquin Round Table was as famous for her razor-sharp tongue as she was for her love of good drinks. So much that a full book has been dedicated to her love for cocktails, called Under the table: a Doroty Parker cocktail guide. In the 1920s, …
Truman Capote, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, was a man of exquisite, sometimes exaggerated tastes, and when it came to his drink of choice, nothing could beat a a perfectly chilled Martini. For Capote, the Martini wasn't just a drink for times of relax, but also a companion during long …
Liz Taylor is not typically appearing among the "famous Martini drinkers" (a crew dominated by men I have to say), but some research shows that she used to order a Martini as soon as she arrived on set. What Martini would that be, for a lady who was synonymous with glamour, elegance and romance? It …
Apart from having been a majestic writer capable of creating history-based incredible worlds and unforgettable characters (if you have not ready his books do that and you will agree with me), Umberto Eco was admittedly a Martini lover. As one can expect from the character, he did not just drink Martinis: he analyzed them and …
Clark Gable also liked Martinis, actually he is the Hollywood character connected to the Martini Dry in the great book Cocktail of the Movies (highly recommended). In order to make them really dry, James Gannon, the newspaperman Clark Gable played in Teacher’s Pet, moisten the cork of a bottle of vermouth and then runs it around the …
So famous is Ernst Hemingway’s passion for a good drink that Philip Greene wrote a book about it , which explores Papa’s drinking habits and the drinks that appear into his books. Hemingway loved martinis and created his own version called “The Montgomery”, named after Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, the British general who would not go into battle …
W. Somerset Maugham, the famous British novelist, was a huge fan of Noilly Prat French vermouth for his martinis, and once said: “You can make a sidecar, a gimlet, a white lady, or a gin and bitters, but you cannot make a dry martini.” He also believed that “martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, …
Sir Winston Churchill, knownk for the quote “I have taken more out of alcohol than it has taken out of me”, had certainly no fear of the strong stuff, so much that White House staff during Roosevelt’s administration coined a special term for Churchill visits: “Winston Hours.” Basically, during this time the president and prime minister would …
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd US president, was at his best after a stiff drink, which explains why he carried a “martini kit” on every local and foreign trip, including his martini tray. His favorite was the Dirty Martini: two parts gin, one part vermouth, a soupcon of olive brine, a lemon twist and an …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDKGmW-5nbw Luis Buñuel once stated he never had the ‘bad luck’ to miss his daily cocktail: ‘Where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead’. In his autobiography, he confessed that martinis played a “primordial” role in his life. On the ratio of gin to vermouth he remarked that “connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing …
The Martini Hour 