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The Perfect Martinis to Pair with Your Favorite Books

The Martini Cocktail author recommends top-notch variations of literature's favorite drink.

By ROBERT SIMONSON • 3 months ago
perfect martini

No cocktail has a greater literary pedigree than the Martini. Writers from Ernest Hemingway to Jack London to Ogden Nash have been rhapsodizing about the peerless blend of gin and dry vermouth since the dawn of the 20th century, slipping mentions of the potion into their prose and poetry. If you enjoy a cocktail with your evening’s reading, why look further than the greatest of all mixed drinks? Here are five Martini-book pairings to get you started.


Featured Image: @sarahmwalk/Twenty20; Author Photo: Lizzie Munro

  • The cover of the book Appointment in Samarra

    Appointment in Samarra

    John O'Hara

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books

    Pair with: A pitcher of gin Martinis
    The cocktail party never seems to end in O’Hara’s classic 1934 examination of toxic American conformity, and you’ll want to join in after a few pages. A pitcher of Martinis, the sort very likely commonly mixed up by anti-hero Julian English, will see you through.

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book Collected Poems

    Collected Poems

    W. H. Auden

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books

    Pair with: Frozen Dry Vodka Martini
    “Could any tiger/Drink martinis, smoke cigars,/And last as we do?” wrote Auden. Not the way Auden drank, no. No poet loved his Martinis more. Recent evidence shows that he may have preferred vodka as much as gin for a base. But he doubtless liked them dry and as cold as possible; he kept a pitcher chilled in the freezer.

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book The Thin Man

    The Thin Man

    Dashiell Hammett

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books

    Pair with: 50-50 Martini
    Suave husband-and-wife detectives Nick and Nora Charles actually don’t drink any Martinis in The Thin Man, but the 1934 film the book inspired may be the most cocktail-ridden flick in cinematic history. Martinis were smaller and wetter back then, so the way to go here is a 50-50, with equal parts gin and vermouth, served in a “Nick and Nora glass” (these exist; look them up).

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book The Harry's Bar Cookbook

    The Harry's Bar Cookbook

    Harry Cipriani

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books

    Pair with: Harry’s Bar Martini
    One of the most famous—and most peculiar—Martinis in the world is served at the iconic Harry’s Bar in Venice. To approximate it, pour an ounce and a half of gin in a shot glass and place it in the freezer. When it comes time to imbibe, fetch it out of the icebox, layer a barspoon of dry vermouth on top, toss in a lemon twist, and enjoy.

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Robert Dallek

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books

    Pair with: Dirty Martini
    Roosevelt enjoyed nothing more than mixing up a round of White House Martinis for his guests. Some accounts have him slipping in a bit of olive brine in the mix, making him a very early advocate of the Dirty Martini.

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book The Martini Cocktail
    Featured Book

    The Martini Cocktail

    Robert Simonson

    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
    AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundApple Books
     

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About ROBERT SIMONSON

ROBERT SIMONSON writes about cocktails, spirits, bars, and bartenders for the New York Times. He is also contributing editor and columnist at PUNCH. His books include The Old-Fashioned (2014), A Proper Drink (2016) and 3-Ingredient Cocktails (2017), which was nominated for a 2018 James Beard Award. He was also a primary contributor to The Essential New York Times Book of Cocktails (2015). Simonson won the 2019 Spirited Award for Best Cocktail and Spirits Writer, and his work, which has also appeared in Saveur, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, New York magazine, and Lucky Peach, has been nominated for a total of eleven Spirited Awards and two IACP Awards. A native of Wisconsin, he lives in Brooklyn.

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