Browsing old magazine ads through Google Books, I was struck by how infrequently I saw 80 proof gin before the 1950s/60s. Do you think there is any connection between the decreasing gin strength and the removal of vermouth from Dry Martini recipes of the time? Maybe to keep the strength of the finished cocktail the same? Or was it more of a coincidence?
It was the switch from sweeter drinks to dry that was the driver behind it. I wrote about the Martinez/Martini and its evolution at the link below
Consultancy, training and events - www.evo-lution.org
Boker's Bitters and Dandelion & Burdock Bitters - www.bokersbitters.co.uk
The Jerry Thomas Project - www.thejerrythomasproject.blogspot.com
Interesting article!
I guess my thoughts were that a 1:1 Dry Martini (like Frank Newman's 1904 version) would create a Dry Martini that was fairly mild by today's standards if it were using 80 proof gin. But if it had been made originally with 100 proof (U.S.) gin, a 1 to 1 mix would be going into the mixing glass at around 34% ABV. To get that same strength going into the mixing glass with 80 proof gin, you'd need a ratio of 3 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth.
Of course, that can't be the whole story, because tastes now are for even less vermouth than in a 3:1... I suppose if the original Dry Martini was made using gin at 100 proof British (something like Plymouth Naval Strength), it might explain it, as a 1:1: Martini using 57% ABV gin would go into the mixing glass at 37.5% ABV, which could only be copied using 80 proof gin if one used a ratio of 8 to 1, but that seems like a bit of a stretch.
An example of the sort of ad I was talking about, from a 1937 issue of LIFE Magazine:
90 proof seemed to be the average for most of the 1930s ads I've seen, and the Dry Martini recipes were "wetter".
Sorry, I can't contribute to this thread - I'm reading and learning too.
However, I'll be darned if that isn't a great bottle!
[Stranded on an island essential cocktails: Sidecar, 3:1 Dry Martini with 2 olives, my own Neo Old Fashioned.]
Another piece of the puzzle, I happened to notice white browsing the PDF version of Harry Johnson's 1882 Bartender's Manual (1934 reprint), a note on gin strength in section 27, "Concerning High Proof of Liquors":
As for imported goods, gins, rums, brandies, etc., are concerned, they all, more or less, come over-proof, and therefore it is advisable to reduce them to about 100, for by selling it over-proof, the proprietor would not be able to have returned the amount of money invested. It is difficult, anyway, to make a profit on imported goods. [. . .] When it requires a reduction of the imported liquors, as they generally come from 12 to 15 over-proof, the proper amount of water required for this reduction will be one pint to a gallon of the liquor, in order to bring the proof from 115 to 100, the usual retail sale proof of imported liquors. They are generally drank stronger than the domestic goods, because they are still further diluted when served, as they usually are, in hot (water) drinks.
[. . .]
When it requires a reduction of the imported liquors, as they generally come from 12 to 15 over-proof, the proper amount of water required for this reduction will be one pint to a gallon of the liquor, in order to bring the proof from 115 to 100, the usual retail sale proof of imported liquors. They are generally drank stronger than the domestic goods, because they are still further diluted when served, as they usually are, in hot (water) drinks.
So it looks like back then imported gin was arriving at 100 proof British and being diluted to 100 proof American at reputable bars...
Hmm... an interesting question. It's possible that gin strength it's a part of it. The average strength of spirits has decreased over the last 100 years. There's still confusion between UK and American proof, but Gordon's supposedly used to be 47.3% ABV in the US, then it was 40 and now, down to 37.5. There's even more confusion between domestic and export bottles. Plymouth Navy Strength, just recently arrived in the US, is only 47% ABV while the UK domestic is still apparently 57%.
I would tend to agree with Adam that tastes just started changing to drier drinks around the end of the 19th century, but it has to be something more. In the 30s and 40s the amount of vermouth plummeted and it started to seem like it was only added begrudgingly or symbolically to the drink (the Churchill- and Hitchcock-esque "wave the glass in the direction of France," "whisper 'vermouth' into the glass," "bow in the direction of France," etc.). Patriotism? Bad PR? Laziness? Less-complex palates? Until relatively recently, vermouth has had a very bad image.
Maybe as vermouth use in the martini decreased, the bottles hung around longer increasing the possibility of it going sour, accelerating the decline even faster. It does last for a longer time than regular wine, but still not forever. I've thrown out dozens of opened bottles of vermouth at friends' houses that have been in the back of cabinets or shelves for years. They knew they had to have it, but none of them really liked it until I brought them a fresh, good bottle and made them a 1:1 or 2:1 martini.
I personally think we have two independant incidents happening at roughly the same time. The removal of vermouth in the Martini happened pretty quickly after we came out of prohibition, as did the removal of bitters. It is important to note that the same did not happen with the Manhattan. If it were due to bartenders making adjustments to the recipe to account for the lower proof they would have done it to both.
I think the difference here is that the Martini (for whatever reason) became the popular cocktail for people to serve at parties and such, and it is they who modified the recipe, not out of "culinary expertice" but out of ignorance. They started omitting the bitters because either they couldn't be bothered to try to find some, or they tasted it straight at one time and decided they didn't want their drinks to taste like that. And for decreasing the vermouth, they were listening too much to the "celebrities" of the day who were telling them to "whisper vermouth over the glass before you drink" or "look in the direction of paris when you pour the gin" or "let a shaft of sunlight shine through the vermouth bottle and onto your gin" or "wave the vermouth cap over the gin".. the fact that these celebrities in question were all borderline or full blown alcoholics might be a reason they were wanting to decrease the amount of vermouth in their gin.
...at least that is my theory.
-Robert
I have heard it explained that it was taxation issues that drove the proof down, and I was able to find an article by Jason Wilson in the Washington Post to back that up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071301468.html
Cocktail Virgin blog & author of Drink & Tell: A Boston Cocktail Book.
Yep, I'm in the camp of thinking it was ultimately just changes in fashion and laziness. That, and the Betty Crocker-esque rise of home-bartending in the 40s and 50s. People wanted things quick and uncomplicated.
Interesting point about the potentially parallel path of the Manhattan, Robert. Why didn't that suffer quite so much as the Martini?
Though I do have to say I found myself in an unfamiliar bar here in SF last night and ordered one. Had to practically beg to get a reasonable amount of vermouth in the glass even though I asked for it half-and-half. Even here, I do often still see them made without bitters and looking like nearly straight whiskey. Maybe it hasn't fared that much better after all.
Robert Hess: I personally think we have two independant incidents happening at roughly the same time. The removal of vermouth in the Martini happened pretty quickly after we came out of prohibition, as did the removal of bitters. It is important to note that the same did not happen with the Manhattan. If it were due to bartenders making adjustments to the recipe to account for the lower proof they would have done it to both.
I wonder a bit about this. The American whiskey industry, for whatever reason, seems to have lowered its proof grudgingly. 100 proof Bottled-in-Bond whiskey remained popular post-Prohibition, if trends in old ads are any indication. I think there are still about a dozen Bottled-in-Bond whiskies still produced, and non-bonded 100 proof whiskey is not hard to find even today. Most bars will have at least Wild Turkey, and places selling liquor retail will usually have one or another of its competitors, like Old Ezra or Fighting Cock.
To me, this seems like it could partially explain why Manhattan recipes changed more slowly than Martini recipes.
On the other hand, while it's pretty tricky getting 100+ proof gin, (Are there any others besides Plymouth Naval Strength and Seagram's Distillers Reserve?) Beefeater and Tanqueray and their competitors are all in the 94 proof range in the U.S., which is pretty close. Close enough that you'd expect more "wet" Dry Martinis out there...
On the third hand, I hear that U.S. made gin was much more popular post-Prohibition than British gin... In 1965 for its "Grownups' Hour" ads, Beefeater proudly pointed out that sales of imported gin were currently at 1 in 10 of all bottles of gin sold, up from the 1947 figure of 1 in 500. To me, this suggests that in 1947 99.998% of gin was domestic gin, with that figure dipping to 90% by 1965, so maybe the availability of higher proof imported gin didn't make the difference it should have?
mbanu:Are there any others besides Plymouth Naval Strength and Seagram's Distillers Reserve?)
Hayman's Royal Dock, 57% ABV. Others?
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Blackwoods has a 60%.
http://blackwoodsgin.net/index.php
Catoctin Creek bottles their organic Watershed Gin at 100 proof. Tasty stuff, I must say.
Here's the cocktail I featured it in for my recent gin class:
The Turning Point
3 oz Catoctin Crk Watershed Gin
1 oz Dolin Blanc
Dash of my homemade orange tincture
Grapefruit twist
The orange tincture was made following Baker Jr's recipe in Gentleman's Companion for orange bitters. The resulting liquid was delicious but not really all that bitter, thus I called it a tincture.
I asked for this at a bar the other night, but my bartender friend was out of grapefruit. so I suggested he make it with Regan's orange bitters and an orange twist. Just not as good.
LukeWMD:The Turning Point
How is that not an off-dry Martini with a grapefruit twist substituted for a lemon twist?