Cocktails
The Martini's grandfather. Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino, bitters.
Spirit base: Old Tom gin · Family: Spirit-forward
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A working editorial map. Each entry names a real bar from our database — the room our editors would send you to first for a Martinez in that city.
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NYC bartending has been the world's reference point since the 1990s craft revival. Order yours at Amor y Amargo New York and Angel's Share.
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London cocktail culture rebuilt itself in the 2000s and now sets the global pace. Order yours at 100 Club and A Bar with Shapes for a Name.
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Paris cocktail bartending caught up to its food scene in the 2010s — and now leads it in places. Order yours at Bonhomie Paris and BapBap Brewery.
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Tokyo bartending is the world's most disciplined; technique trumps theatre everywhere. Order yours at Baird Beer Harajuku Taproom and Bar Asterisk.
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LA's cocktail scene runs on Hollywood polish and Pacific-Rim ingredient access. Order yours at Bar Bandini and Bar Jackalope.
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Hong Kong cocktail culture mixes British colonial whisky bars and modern craft. Order yours at Angel's Share Hong Kong and Aqua Hong Kong.
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Singapore is Asia's cocktail capital — tropical fruit programmes lead the world. Order yours at 28 HongKong Street Singapore and Analogue Initiative Singapore.
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Melbourne laneway cocktail bars built Australia's craft scene from scratch. Order yours at Above Board Melbourne and Attic.
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Sydney's cocktail rooms balance polish with Australia's irreverent indie energy. Order yours at Archie Rose Bar and Batch Brewing Co..
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Mexico City's cocktail era is the most exciting story in bartending right now. Order yours at Baltra Bar and Baltra Bar.
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Barcelona vermouth + cocktail culture sits between Spanish tradition and modern craft. Order yours at Balius Bar and Balius Barcelona.
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Madrid's after-midnight cocktail scene is the most underrated in Europe. Order yours at 1862 by Night Madrid and 1862 Dry Bar Madrid.
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Berlin runs late and dry — cocktail rooms here favour spirit-forward minimalism. Order yours at A-Trane and Amano Bar Berlin.
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Amsterdam's genever heritage fuels one of Europe's most distinctive cocktail scenes. Order yours at A Bar and Arendsnest.
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Copenhagen cocktail bartending followed its food scene into world-leading territory. Order yours at 1105 and Aamanns Deli Bar.
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Lisbon cocktail culture has matured fast — Portuguese spirits + craft technique. Order yours at A Cevicheria Lisbon and Baccus Marques.
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Rome treats cocktails as aperitivo first, craft second — and gets both right. Order yours at Ai Tre Scalini and Alexanderplatz Jazz Club.
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Milan's aperitivo culture invented half the modern cocktail vocabulary. Order yours at 1930 Milan and 1930 Speakeasy.
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Dublin's cocktail scene now competes with London — Irish whiskey programmes lead. Order yours at 9 Below at The Stephen's Green Hibernian Club and Anseo Dublin.
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Edinburgh whisky bars run the world's deepest single-malt programmes. Order yours at Badabing Edinburgh and Bar 50.
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Miami's cocktail scene runs on rum, hospitality, and hotel-bar ambition. Order yours at 1-800-Lucky and 1 Rooftop Miami.
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Chicago cocktail bartending birthed the Paper Plane and shaped the 2010s craft era. Order yours at Andy's Jazz Club and The Aviary.
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San Francisco's cocktail scene defined Pacific-Rim ingredient-led bartending. Order yours at 15 Romolo and ABV.
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Vancouver cocktail rooms blend Pacific Northwest produce with serious technique. Order yours at The Keefer Bar and Botanist.
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Toronto's cocktail scene punches above its size — Canadian rye programmes lead. Order yours at Allen's and Archive 909.
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Montreal cocktail bartending mixes French polish with Canadian indie energy. Order yours at Atwater Cocktail Club Montréal and Bar Darling.
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Dubai's cocktail scene runs on hotel-bar ambition and zero-compromise budgets. Order yours at 100 Anvers and 1701 Sheesha Lounge.
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Bangkok cocktail bartending leads Asia's tropical-ingredient revolution. Order yours at Akkee and Asia Today Bangkok.
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Seoul cocktail rooms blend Korean spirits + Japanese precision into something new. Order yours at Alice Cheongdam and Bar Cham.
Buenos Aires runs Latin America's most disciplined cocktail programmes. Order yours at 878 Bar and Cerveceria Antares.
The town of Martinez, California — across the bay from San Francisco — claims the cocktail as its own, with a plaque commemorating the disputed event. Other origin stories place it at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco around 1881; Jerry Thomas's bar manuals offer a third version. None of the claims are watertight. What's certain is that Old Tom gin (a sweeter, malt-led pre-Prohibition style of gin that all but vanished after WWII) is essential to the build. The 2010s craft revival rebuilt the Old Tom market — Hayman's, Ransom, Anchor — specifically so bartenders could make Martinez cocktails properly again.
What follows: the canonical 1880s ratios (with notes on the four Old Tom gins worth knowing), the wider Martini-family genealogy, and 30 cities where Old Tom is on the back bar and the Martinez is treated as a piece of cocktail history rather than a curiosity.
A working editorial map. Each entry names a real bar from our database — the room our editors would send you to first for a Martinez in that city.