By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Dessert martinis:
From the Halekulani's special selection (about $6.50 each), from left:
Chocoberry: Chocolate liqueur, Bailey's Irish Cream
and half-and-half, garnished with a chocolate-dipped strawberry.
mango-passion liqueur and strawberry garnish.
President Franklin Roosevelt served one to Stalin at the 1943 Teheran Conference. Bebe Rebozo used to make them for President Nixon -- who liked his at a ratio of 7:1. Actress Mae West described her favorite man as "one with three martinis under his belt and a full wallet in his pocket."Not only is cocktail hour once again a popular social affair, but there's a major buzz about the martini. "Martini bars" are springing up, complete with cigars, lounge music, even smoking jackets.
"The old tradition of drinking truly American cocktails like martinis, Manhattans and Rob Roys is returning," said Randy Uyechi, beverage manager at the Halekulani hotel.
David Dinsmore, Sunset Grill's assistant manager/bar manager, believes the resurgence of the martini is largely due to "strong marketing, selling a level of sophistication."
"There's an illusion and fascination of that product in that glass," he said. "It's classicism."
Though the martini seems to be America's favorite cocktail again, this time around it's experiencing a shake up. The traditional powerhouse mixture of approximately four parts gin or vodka to one part vermouth -- shaken or stirred over ice -- is no longer sanctified.
"Gin, is the minor player this time around because vodka and other cordials are in," Uyechi said. "Often, the only connection today's quasi-martinis have to the original martini recipe is the martini glass itself."
The Halekulani has seen an increase in the last three years, not only in martini popularity but in traditional cocktails, Uyechi said. Customers at Sunset Grill, especially those in their 20s, have been asking about specific high-end brands of gins and vodkas, Dinsmore said.
"Our martini base in terms of customer age has grown," he said. "Martinis are no longer the domain of just upper-level executives." Martini drinkers are as young as 20, Dinsmore said, but most are in their early 30s, all the way up to the 60s.
"We find that the majority of our clientele still prefer a traditional martini, be it prepared with gin or vodka," Dinsmore said.
But why a martini?
Because, Dinsmore and Uyechi agreed, culturally speaking the martini has always been more than a drink.
"The martini is an idea, a statement and, to the very devoted, a lifestyle," Dinsmore said.
Put a martini into the hands of a secret agent or movie star he or she takes on the trappings of an aristocrat.
"Once upon a time if you were drinking martinis, you had either arrived or were well on your way to where you were going," Dinsmore said. "They call (the martini) a dresser, which means it's the first cocktail you have to begin an evening while you're dressing to go to the opera or a play."
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Randy Uyechi, beverage manager for the Halekulani,
demonstrates the proper technique for stirring a martini.
The drink should be mixed with ice, then strained
into a chilled glass.
Uyechi calls the martini "a classy drink.""A martini drinker enjoys the feeling the martini creates, the flavor and the atmosphere in which it is partaken," Uyechi said. "If you try a (traditional) martini before wine or dinner it'll complement the ambiance and create a enjoyable mind set."
Dinsmore calls the all-alcohol martini "a heady mixture."
"It gets you started quickly," Dinsmore said, laughing. "But it is also a drink enjoyed on several levels, and how you make it is every bit as important, if not more important, to the taste than the actual recipe.
"The show that goes into making a martini is a big part of what makes it taste good."
Sunset Grill pre-chills the "up" glass with a slurry of ice cubes and water.
"We find that a chill is critical for our martini because we pour a double, 3 ounce, for this drink, so consequently the customer lingers a bit longer while imbibing," he said.
Sunset Grill also "whacks" its martinis during mixing.
"Not too much ice in the shaker, nor too little, but enough room that when we shake it vigorously we create micro-crystalline particles which suspend themselves in the 'toony.' "
Dinsmore said. "Then we splash the empty chilled glass with the vermouth to merely coat it, and discard the rest."
Younger customers are prime drinkers of "designer," or quasi-Martinis, and prefer vodka-based drinks, Uyechi said.
"We have more orders for vodka martinis than gin," he said. "Vodka is easier to drink and has a cleaner taste. And there are flavored vodkas to add another dimension.
"Vodka is easier to work with. It's like working on a blank canvas because it has no distinct flavor like gin."
But the martini wasn't always at the top of the drink list. Its popularity waned in the late 1970's when three-martini lunches and other indulgences fell to a more temperate approach to life, work and drinking.
Martinis fell into the same category as red meat, fur coats and cigars: a decadent reflection of an older time. But as history often repeats itself, martinis are sizzling again, a return to a 1940s- style of chic socializing.
"It's a return to quality over quantity," Uyechi said.
"Maybe the male is just attracted to the feminine aspect of that glass with all those steep curves," Dinsmore said.
The origin of the drink is pretty much up for grabs. And the name may not always have been "martini." Where did it all begin?
One story has the martini originating in Martinez, Calif., around 1870:
A miner from San Francisco stopped at a local saloon tended by Julio Richelieu.
The miner plunked a small sack of gold nuggets before the bartender, asked for a bottle of liquor, and as a bonus received an unusual drink in a small glass with an olive dropped into it.
"What is it?" asked the miner.
"That," replied Richelieu, "is a Martinez cocktail."
Source: "The Martini," by Barnaby Conrad III
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