Our latest incursion into 21st century classics, dips us just below the qualificatiton threshold into 1996, though we thought this drink well worthy of an exception. Clinton Cawood is a sucker for a good story - he catches up with the Breakfast Martini's creator Salvatore Calabrese.
The morning after a particularly late shift as manager of the Library Bar of the Lanesborough Hotel in 1996, inspiration hit Salvatore Calabrese for what would prove to be an enduring classic and secure marmalade’s place in the cocktail canon too.
His wife, Sue, rather than her usual suggestion that he eat breakfast before returning to the bar, had instead presented Calabrese with orange marmalade on toast. “It wasn’t that I hadn’t tasted marmalade before, but that day the bitter, tangy flavour played with my taste buds,” he remembers.
Commandeering the jar, The Maestro made his way to work and developed what would become the Breakfast Martini. “Marmalade is very British, so it had to be quite a British cocktail,” says Calabrese, explaining the choice of gin as the base spirit.
He remembers the drink’s rapid rise to popularity, helped by its international debut at the Rainbow Room in New York, at the launch of Calabrese’s book Classic Cocktails, where it was served to 300 guests.
Back at the Library Bar, guests were ordering it from opening time at 11am and, today, nearly three decades later, it remains a cocktail list staple around the world.
BREAKFAST MARTINI (SALVATORE CALABRESE)
• 50ml gin
• 15ml Cointreau
• 15ml fresh lemon juice
• 1 full barspoon of fine-cut orange marmalade
Glass: Martini
Garnish: Shredded orange peel.
Method: Pour all the ingredients into a shaker and stir to dissolve the marmalade. Add ice, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Shred some orange peel over the top of the drink.