Irish Martini

A Vodka Martini with a bit of Irish Whiskey thrown in for good measure, the Irish Martini is a nice variation on a classic.

As you can see in the recipe below, there's not a lot of Whiskey in there, but considering the relatively neutral taste of the Vodka and the small amount of Dry Vermouth, the Whiskey addition adds quite a lot to this drink!

Total Time 3

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

15 mL Irish Whiskey
60 mL Vodka
15 mL Dry Vermouth
Garnish with lemon peel

Instructions

Shake Whiskey, Vodka, and Dry Vermouth in a cocktail shaker with ice. Make sure the drink is very cold.
Strain into a Martini glass.
Add garnish and serve.

Notes

Since there's not a lot in there, make sure you're using good quality ingredients. The Vodka should be relatively neutral and smooth, with the Whiskey coming through nicely with the the Vermouth. If you use a cheap Vodka, this cocktail will taste like cheap Vodka! Don't let yourself down with poor ingredients.

Our Review of the Irish Martini

OK, so here’s an interesting one…

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but this cocktail is basically just a Vodka Martini with a bit of Irish whiskey thrown in for some additional flavour. This sweetens up the cocktail a fair bit while also adding characteristic whiskey maltiness, which I think is quite welcome. Personally, I find a Vodka Martini a little boring. Vodka isn’t designed to really add flavour to anything, just alcohol, so a standard Vodka Martini is designed to show off the flavour of the dry vermouth being used. Of course, since whiskey is being added here, the vermouth starts to take a little bit of a back seat, as the flavour of the whiskey tends to be a little more robust. But not too much, since not much Irish whiskey is being added!

As I already mentioned, I think the addition of the Irish whiskey is quite welcome. Sure, if I wanted a Whiskey Martini I could just do whiskey and dry vermouth, but that’s not really the point here. A good cocktail recipe is about the balancing of flavours, complimenting flavours, or bringing more out. That touch of Irish Whiskey is what’s bringing more out of everything.

All in all though, the Irish Martini just gets thrown into the many Martini variations: various cocktail recipes that are loosely (some very loosely) based on the Martini. Some people love these variations, some people like to keep things pure. To me, I quite enjoy the variations, but mostly for the experience. The standard Martini is a good building block, so it’s fun to riff and make changes.

Try the Irish Martini just to keep going on your Martini journey. Maybe it’s something you’ll and have often, maybe it’s one you’ll enjoy before moving onto the next one. You won’t hate it though.

6.5/10

Review by Bobby

And then make some more cocktails

Keep browsing through this website for more great cocktail recipes. You can browse however you like, but you’re also welcome to take a look at some of the links below, perhaps they will help direct you:

All Irish Whiskey cocktail recipes: we’ll start with our Irish Whiskey cocktail section. It’s not the most common cocktail ingredient, but there are a few recipes there.

Top 10 Whiskey cocktail recipes: you may also want to check out our top Whiskey cocktail recipes. If you’re a Whiskey drinker, you don’t want to miss these!

Top 10 Vodka cocktail recipes: or if you’re just here because you like Vodka, check out some of our favourite Vodka cocktail recipes. You’ll be sure to love them!

Top 15 three ingredient cocktail recipes: we also have a great list of cocktails with three ingredients or fewer (like this one). Check them out.