Ernest Hemingway Martini Recipe

It’s no secret that master writer, Ernest Hemingway liked to drink. When in hospital after having fought in the First World War, he asked his friends to smuggle mottles of vermouth into his hospital room while he had several go to cocktails that he copiously drank each day. So famed is Hemingway’s love for a good drink that Philip Greene wrote another book about it ‘To Have and Have Another’, which explores Hemingway’s drinking habits and how references to drinks and drinking quirks made their way into his books.

The Martini

According to Greene, the martini was Hemingway’s favourite drink; in ‘A Farewell to Arms’ one of Hemingway’s protagonists, Frederic Hengry comments on sipping a martini “I had never tasted anything so cool and clean,” while in ‘Across the River and Into the Trees’ Colnel Cantwell orders a Montgomery martini asking for 15 parts of gin to one part vermouth.

Typically, the martini is made with 6 parts gin and one part dry vermouth and garnished with an olive or lemon. It’s an extremely popular drink; 

E.B White called it the elixir of quietude and it crops up several times in popular fiction.

Here’s a martini recipe for you to try; maybe it’ll lend you a little of Hemingway’s genius! Serve it with a meal or as a part of drinks before dinner.

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A Martini For A Writer

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Servings

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Ingredients

• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 3 oz Gin

Servings MetricUS Imperial Ingredients 1/2 oz dry vermouth 3 oz Gin

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Instructions

1. Stir all the ingredients together and strain into a chilled martini glass.
2. Garnish with an olive.