The Gin and It was a cocktail which according to Dale Degroff most likely evolved from a sweet Martini, which in turn was an evolution of the Martinez cocktail. The Martinez being the drink which most people accept as the drink which the modern Martini evolved from, and the sweet Martini would be the first step in that evolution. So the Sweet Martini was a wildly popular drink during the 1880’s and 1890’s, imbibers would go to places like the Hoffman House in NYC to get it and as time went on and the Martini started to evolve into something closer to what we have now, people started referring to Sweet Martinis as a Gin & Italian (a reference to Sweet Vermouth which was known as Italian Vermouth). As time hurtled ever forward, the name was shortened Yet again and it was and is now known simply as a Gin & It.
Note: One point that I wanted to make and didn’t get to is that when a recipe calls for a style of spirit in General ie: White Rum or Gin it’s really left up to the maker which they use, which is great because it leaves a lot of room for experimentation. It also leaves room for missing the mark on flavor profiles in cocktails especially since as is the case for Both “White Rum” and Gin there’s a lot of variety within those blanket terms. A lot of old recipes are written in this vague way but that’s why there’s been so much innovation in recreating them!
Here’s links to the tools I used in this episode:
Barfly Measuring Cup Jigger
Amehla Co. Honeycomb Mixing Glass
Amehla Co. Nick and Nora Glasses (set 2)
Barfly Bar Spoon
Barfly Y Peeler
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Gin and It
Instructions
- Add ingredients to mixing glass
- Add ice and stir until chilled
- Strain into chilled nick and nora
- Garnish with Lemon Twist
