Clark Gable's Favorite Martini Hack Is One You Might Want To Try

Clark Gable was arguably the golden boy of Hollywood's Golden Age, and this big screen star's go-to martini involved an element of specific technique. The actor made "Gone With the Wind" famous with his iconic line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," but when it came to the serious business of making a killer martini, Gable was much less blasé.

When Gable assembled his ideal martini, he turned the vermouth bottle upside-down and held it there for a moment, allowing the vermouth to soak the cork. Once wetted, he removed the cork and carefully traced it around the rim of the glass. This maneuver creates a flavorful yet invisible rim, subtler than the snowy rock salt rims margarita-lovers know, adding a hint of vermouth flavor to the gin when the drinker's lips meet the glass. It's also worth noting that this rim swipe was the only inclusion of vermouth in Gable's go-to martini. The in-glass portion of the cocktail was gin alone, stirred to chill.

Gable even prepares a martini using his personal method in the 1958 flick "Teacher's Pet" in which he plays a newspaper editor alongside Doris Day. However, in the film, Gable wets the stopper by giving the vermouth bottle a few good shakes rather than totally inverting it.

The seemingly simple combination of gin and vermouth has inspired countless variations from the 50/50 martini to the lemon drop, the Bond-style Vesper, and the "perfect" martini (a label more instructive than subjective), and various proportions of vermouth are largely responsible for the differences between these timeless drinks. Martinis are traditionally made with dry rather than sweet vermouth for a flavor profile that is more herbaceous and tart than spiced. Common tasting notes include light florals, green herbs, and fennel, rounded out by citrusy bitter orange, lemon, and grapefruit.

The whisper of vermouth on the rim is what separates Gable's "martini" from being nothing more than a glass of chilled gin. Yet, while the vermouth-washed rim might present subtle flavor during the first sip, the ingredient will get washed away entirely and eclipsed by the gin after just a few sips (which might have been the actor's point!) "I'm just a lucky slob from Ohio who happened to be in the right place at the right time," Clark Gable once said. "I'm no actor and I never have been. What people see on the screen is me" (via AZ Quotes). The truth in this statement, apparently, extended to the actor's on-screen depiction of his home bar techniques. For amateur mixologists interested in trying out Gable's method, feel free to add a few drops of vermouth to your beverage in addition to wetting the rim with it for a more balanced cocktail.