World's 50 Best Bars Brands Report: Dry Martini

Cocktails are now the subject of the Brands Report, our spin-off from The World's 50 Best Bars. Where better to start than the Dry Martini? 

Martini ordering has become as much of a reputation decider as Martini making.

Bond wanted it shaken, not stirred, but most bartenders wouldn’t dream of shaking a Martini these days.

Then there’s the question of vermouth: do you want it wet? Dry? How about just nodding in the direction of Italy? Do you want an olive? Do you want it dirty? And how about cocktail onions? No wait, that’s a Gibson.

But the ultimate question is: Which gin? Tanqueray is known to have its roots firmly rooted in a juniper bush, with coriander notes and a very earthy quality.This is a gin for serious Martini drinkers.

But then a Martini is a serious drink – it’s all booze. And you should take heed of Dorothy Parker’s words: “I like to have a Martini. Two at the very most. After three I’m under the table, after four I’m under my host.”

How we did it

Since we relaunched the World’s 50 Best Bars, we think we’ve built up a pretty fantastic list of top bars and phenomenal bartenders from all over the world.

To create an even better global picture, we also polled 100 of the top 200 bars. When I say ‘we’, it was actually an independent research company called Leslie Henry Marketing & Research.

It’s still growing, make no mistake – and we feel really quite excited about it.

So excited in fact, that this year we decided to reinvent the way we conduct the artist formerly known as Hot Bar Brands by polling our very own top 50.

Voices from the team at Leslie Henry could be heard through telephone receivers from Melbourne to Budapest, Edinburgh to Singapore. The team asked the top bars which brands were best-sellers and which were – to borrow from Twitter – trending.

A trending brand might not be doing the same volumes as a best-seller but it’s a brand that customers are increasingly asking for.

We also included a couple of new categories this year – champagne and water – as well as expanding the cocktail questions to include the likes of aperitifs and after-dinner drinks.

The idea is to paint as accurate a picture of what is being consumed in bars around the world as possible.

Respondents – to use the fancy terminology – included bar owners and bartenders from the likes of the best bar in the world, the Artesian, London; PDT, New York; Nightjar, London; Bramble, Edinburgh: Employees Only, New York; Dry Martini, Barcelona; Black Pearl, Melbourne; Asoka, Cape Town; American Bar at the Savoy, London; Tippling Club, Singapore; Palmer & Co, Sydney; Boutiq Bar, Budapest; Chainaya Tea & Cocktails, Russia and Schumann’s Bar, Munich.

Let us know what you think of the survey: lucy.britner@drinksint.com