We don’t see an onion appearing in Gibson Martini recipes until after Prohibition, however.
Some versions of this story will add that Gibson believed that onions prevented the common cold - he therefore thought an onion in his Martini a day would keep the doctor away. He was shaking it, and Gibson wanted it stirred, with an orange twist for garnish. The most common story you’ll hear is that the Gibson was invented when Charles Dana Gibson, the guy behind famous Gibson Girl drawings from the 1890s to the 1920s, asked a bartender at the Players Club in Manhattan to improve his Martini - to which the bartender complied by dropping an onion in the drink.Īnother - and possibly more probable - story dates to the late 1890s, and a San Francisco businessman named Gibson who didn’t like the way his bartender was making his Martini. So how did the Gibson Martini pick up its defining garnish? No one really knows, but there’s a couple of bar stories which - like any good bar story - are a little hard to believe. “Note - No bitters should ever be used in making this drink, but an olive is sometimes added.”Īn olive? Whilst bitters was the traditional accompaniment to a Martini, going back to its origins, what we have here is the first mention of a Gibson with no onion, but an olive (if the mood should strike you). But in his note on the garnish, Boothby goes a little further: The Martini aficionado will note that what Boothby is describing above is a 50/50 Martini: equal parts London dry gin and dry vermouth.
#GIBSON DRINK CRACKED#
“Into a small mixing glass place some cracked ice, half a jigger of French vermouth and half a jigger of dry English gin stir thoroughly until cold, strain into a cocktail glass and serve,” he writes.
#GIBSON DRINK HOW TO#
You can find it in the 1908 book from Cocktail Bill Boothby (yes - this site’s namesake), World Drinks And How To Mix Them. It’s the onion which maketh the Martini.īut the earliest recipe for a Gibson - as far as we know - doesn’t mention an onion at all. Pop in a simple pickled onion to a dry Martini recipe, and you’re off and away. The Gibson Martini is one of them, and it’s one of our go-to Martini variations, particularly when mixing them at home. But which one? What's your spec? There are, after all, many different takes on the Martini. The Martini, it’s fair to say, is the king of cocktails. The earliest recipe for a Gibson Martini - as far as we know - dates to 1908 and doesn’t mention an onion at all.
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