There are some drinks many bartenders hate making– the labor-intensive Mojito, the no-longer cool Cosmopolitan and the Dirty Martini, to name just a few. The Dirty Martini, according to some, taints the classic Martini with random olive brine. But guests love the salty cocktail.
New York bartender Naren Young decided to try to make his piece with the Dirty Martini by turning it into something respectable. Young spent two years working on a recipe revamp, according to a New York Times article. The result, called Olives 7 Ways, joined the menu this week at cocktail haunt Saxon & Parole, where Young had worked until this past August.
To create the cocktail, Young, now the beverage director for the Empellón Mexican restaurants, replaced the olive brine with an olive distillate. He also commissioned a Manhattan company to create a custom olive bitters using olive varietals from Greece, Italy, France and Spain, as well as oil-cured Moroccan olives, gentian root and wormwood.
The Olives 7 Ways cocktail uses just a touch of the distillate, along with Perry’s Tot navy strength gin, Noilly Prat vermouth that’s been infused with Cerignola olives, a small amount of olive shrub and an additional spray of the olive bitters, plus a few dots of olive oil. It’s served with small dish of olives.
For the full article, including a simplified version of the recipe using an olive-infused vermouth, click here.