The Milady Martini Is A Floral Take On The Classic Cocktail

The reign of the martini is in full swing. If you haven't noticed, the classic cocktail has taken happy hour menus, and society as a whole, by storm. While the dirty martini has commanded an especially powerful following recently, some may want to imbibe in a softer, more floral take on the savory darling. When the dry martini with a twist just won't go far enough, look to the Milady Martini.

This modern twist on a classic martini comes courtesy of New York City-based cocktail expert Julie Reiner and her bar Milady's. The Milady Martini is a 50/50 style martini, meaning it is composed of equal parts gin and vermouth. In this case, one kind of vermouth is swapped for a beguiling mixture of fortified wines and amaro. This zeitgeisty cocktail employs rosé vermouth, which itself is having a moment (it's essentially vermouth, a type of fortified wine, made using rosè), as well as fino sherry and Amaro Santoni. While the pink-hued vermouth brings a bit of bouquet to the glass, the sherry deepens the cocktail with a slightly nutty edge. And to round out the mixture, Amaro Santoni offers a hint of citrus and a punch of rhubarb.

With the Milady Martini, you have a few options. First, you could travel to Manhattan and order one at Milady's itself. Seeing as this is unreasonable for most people outside of the five boroughs and even many within, the second option is to craft the Milady's cocktail yourself. To do so, combine 2 ounces of London dry gin, 1 ounce of both fino sherry and rosé vermouth, and ¼ ounce Amaro Santoni. Put the cocktail mixture in the freezer for a few hours, and garnish with a purple olive. If you're feeling both fancy and dedicated to the Milady's preparation, you can express lemon and orange by lightly grazing a piece of each peel against the rim of the glass.

Your third option is to build and modify your own take on the Milady Martini. If rosè vermouth isn't for you, you can brush up on the different kinds of vermouth and play around with swaps like, for example, a delicate amber vermouth. Or, perhaps, you want to emphasize the rhubarb qualities the drink gets from its amaro. Use this guide to making infusions — you can craft a rhubarb gin infusion for use in the cocktail as a tart, citrusy boost. If you want to tweak the sherry involved in the Milady Martini instead, use this sherry wine cheat sheet to get started.