Ingredients
- 2½ ounces Belvedere vodka
- ½ ounce dry vermouth
- Ice
- Olive for garnish
Instructions
- Chill a martini glass or coupe.
- In a mixing glass, add ice, Belvedere, and dry vermouth.
- Stir rapidly to chill.
- Strain into chilled glass.
- Garnish with olive.
Variations and Substitutions
While you don't want to shuffle around too many ingredients, you still have plenty of options.
- Some classic vodka martinis call for a dash or two of orange bitters.
- Experiment with the ratio of dry vermouth and Belvedere.
- Consider using lemon bitters in place of orange.
- For a drier martini, rinse the martini glass, discarding the excess vermouth, or skip the vermouth entirely.
Garnishes
The martini has several possible garnish options, from traditional to modern.
- Use blue cheese stuffed olives in place of plain olives.
- Opt for a lemon or lime peel, ribbon, or twist.
- A cucumber also makes an appropriate garnish.
- To transform the Belvedere martini into a Belvedere gibson, use cocktail onions.
About the Belvedere Martini
The martini is one, if not, the most iconic cocktail in the world. Even its iconography is a symbol for a bar and liquor. Whether first stirred up in the middle of the 19th century or at the turn of the 20th, the martini is infamous.
To further elevate the elegance of the martini, you can use high-quality ingredients, such as Belvedere vodka. Belvedere vodka is made from Polish rye and follows Polish vodka legal regulations, meaning that nothing can be added other than water, and must follow a strict distillation process. This recipe has been finely tuned in 1910, but the recipe itself draws on inspiration from centuries of Polish vodka making. While vodka has a majority neutral palette, Belvedere does have a medium body that is smooth and velvety, with wisps of sweet vanilla and spicy black pepper to create a harmonious flavor.
Quality vodka, such as Belvedere, only improves the martini experience, as it creates a balanced and crisp martini.
A Martini for the Ages
Few things are more iconic than a martini, and the Belvedere martini is no exception to the rule. So when you're feeling like a crisp cocktail, go ahead and indulge in some Belvedere.
