Try this martini

A whisper of smoke makes all the difference.

The martini is a personal thing. We can all agree that it should be cold, but the one you love is the one you love, and I’m not here to convince you otherwise.

Sometimes, though, a martini crosses your glass that you haven’t tasted before, and that can be a delight. I was visiting friends who served a 50-50 version made with Veso’s sadly sold-out tomato vermouth. It was the ultimate pizza-in-the-garden cocktail; fragrant and crisp and juicy without the fuss of extracting liquid from fresh tomatoes. It was summer preserved, sipped on the oddest, hottest day of October San Francisco. (Veso also makes an olive vermouth that’s more briny and herby than olive-y, and savory in a way that’s quite nice in a martini.)

But while we wait for the tomato version to come back in stock, I have another stellar martini to pour for you, one more appropriate to the season we’re in in the Northern hemisphere. It comes from the new book on the drink by Alice Lascelles; I poured it for friends the other night alongside a plate of thinly-sliced Spanish ham. (In full disclosure: Today’s send is brought to you in partnership with the book’s publisher.)

The drink is simple, really: a martini with a touch of smoky whisky. That’s the whole thing. But it’s a big thing, that peaty, earthy flavor, not enough to take over but enough to change the vibes. It’s a martini, but you lit candles. It’s a martini, but you put on a really nice sweater and everyone looks so good in this light.

Okay, it’s not actually this smoky… Photo: Laura Edwards

Scroll on down for the recipe.

While you sip, how about listening to the latest from my podcast? I interviewed Margaret Eby, author of You Gotta Eat, and Joe Yonan of the Washington Post, and most recently, TikTok cooking superstar Justine Doiron. (To get recipes from all of these folks, be sure you’re subscribed to The Dinner Plan’s free newsletter.)

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BROUGHT TO YOU WITH SUPPORT FROM
The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles, available wherever good books are sold.

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Smoky Martini

Excerpted and adapted with permission from The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles, published by ‎Quadrille, October 2024.

Alice’s note: I originally made this Martini with the Islay malt Lagavulin 16 Year Old, which has a sweet-and-savoury peatiness like lapsang souchong tea. But it’s a great prism for the growing number of whiskies around the world that are smoked with more unusual things. The Arizona-born malt Del Bac Dorado is smoked with desert mesquite wood; New Zealand’s Thomson distillery uses manuka; Mackmyra’s Svensk Rök gets its incense-y note from Swedish juniper, while Stauning in Denmark smokes its malt with local heather. Each one of these would bring a different accent to the drink.

Makes 1

50ml gin 

10ml dry vermouth

2.5–5ml smoky whisky

Garnish: Orange twist

Maggie’s note: The ratio here is 5 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth, so instead of doing straight conversions from ml to ounces, I stuck with easier measurements using that ratio. This makes a slightly bigger cocktail, I think you can handle it. I used:

2½ oz. gin

½ oz. dry vermouth

⅛ oz. to ¼ oz. smoky whisky

Garnish: orange twist

Stir together gin, dry vermouth, and smoky whisky with ice until well chilled. Strain into a chilled stemmed cocktail glass and garnish with orange twist.