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Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren

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Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here. The Martini glass is one of the most

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Speaker 1: iconic designs in barware, and maybe one of the most

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Speaker 1: iconic designs of anything ever. Its sloped sides, wide rim,

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Speaker 1: spindley stem, and round base are immediately recognizable. Of course,

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Speaker 1: you can drink anything at all out of it if

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Speaker 1: you want to, and hey note here, please drink responsibly.

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Speaker 1: But for almost a hundred years, the proper cocktail to

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Speaker 1: servant it has been the Martini. That's actually forty years

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Speaker 1: into the Martini cocktail's history. The drink predates the glass.

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Speaker 1: The Martini cocktail has been around in various forms since

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Speaker 1: at least the eighteen eighties, although the circumstances of its

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Speaker 1: invention are murky. There are at least four competing origin

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Speaker 1: stories about the name and ingredients that is, a combination

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Speaker 1: of gin and vermouth with or without other stuff like

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Speaker 1: a splash of orange bitters or olive brine, or a

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Speaker 1: garnish like an olive or a twist of lemon zest.

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Speaker 1: A story published in the New York Times in nineteen

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Speaker 1: o four claimed that a local judge by the name

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Speaker 1: of Randolph Martin came up with the drink. Another story

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Speaker 1: goes that a gold miner in Martinez, California, asked a

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Speaker 1: bartender for something special to celebrate a big find. The

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Speaker 1: addition of the olive is sometimes attributed to a Syrian

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Speaker 1: expat by the name of Martini who opened a bar

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Speaker 1: in Paris and brought olives from home, though it's perhaps

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Speaker 1: most likely that multiple people were independently making and refining

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Speaker 1: similar cocktails around the same time, and the name comes

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Speaker 1: from the popular Italian vermouth brand Martini and Rossi. The

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Speaker 1: Martini glass, on the other hand, comes solidly from the

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Speaker 1: nineteen twenties and the height of the Deco movement. It

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Speaker 1: may have made its debut at the nineteen twenty five

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Speaker 1: International Exhibition in Paris. Art Deco was the theme of

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Speaker 1: the expo that year. The Martini glass was a sort

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Speaker 1: of update to the Champagne coup, which has a similar

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Speaker 1: rounded base and delicate stem, but a perhaps more forgiving,

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Speaker 1: shallow rounded bowl. Martinis and other cocktails like it were

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Speaker 1: served in Coup's for decades before the new angular glass

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Speaker 1: arrived on the scene, but by the nineteen thirties this

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Speaker 1: new glass design was firmly associated with the Martini cocktail,

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Speaker 1: a clean design for a clean drink. The Martini's simplicity

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Speaker 1: and its glasses design made it a symbol of the

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Speaker 1: modern American urbanite. By the nineteen forties and fifties, with

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Speaker 1: the rise of mid century modern design, the lip of

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Speaker 1: the Martini glass would grow wider and the stem longer,

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Speaker 1: and through industrialization, this glassware became available for home use

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Speaker 1: by the middle class. The Martini and its glass, partially

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Speaker 1: through the enthusiasm of folks like Franklin Roosevelt, became symbols

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Speaker 1: of power and modernity. Another New York Times article from

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight called it the symbol of our civilization,

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Speaker 1: and the nineteen fifties, by the way, is when vodka

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Speaker 1: entered the Martini picture. It had probably made its way

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Speaker 1: into the cocktail before then, but the fifties were when

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Speaker 1: the popularity of vodka skyrocketed in the US, and by

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Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies vodka martinis had started to outsell gin martinis. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: the distinctive shape of the Martini glass truly serves one

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Speaker 1: purpose to look amazing. There are some side benefits of

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Speaker 1: this good looking glass, though, The stem is longer than

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Speaker 1: you'll find on most coops or wine glasses, which keeps

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Speaker 1: the heat of your hand far away from the drink itself.

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Speaker 1: This is important because they're shaken or stirred with ice.

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Speaker 1: Martinis are served straight up, that is, with no ice

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Speaker 1: in the glass, so keeping the heat of your hand

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Speaker 1: away from the drink will help it stay colder longer.

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Speaker 1: A side note here, people like to argue about whether

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Speaker 1: it's more appropriate to shake or stir a martini with

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Speaker 1: ice in order to chill it, probably because of that

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Speaker 1: James Bond line which first appeared in Doctor No In

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty eight. A medium dry martini lemon peel, shaken,

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Speaker 1: not stir vodka. Of course, scientifically speaking, the act of

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Speaker 1: shaking ice with gin or a good vermouth can water

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Speaker 1: them down too much, break up the silky texture, and

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Speaker 1: make some of the delicate aroma and flavor molecules start

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Speaker 1: to dissipate before you get a chance to enjoy them.

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Speaker 1: No less than mit researchers have stated that, according to science,

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Speaker 1: the best way to mix a gin martini is by stirring.

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Speaker 1: But back to that glass. The wide open of a

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Speaker 1: martini glass also allows more of the drink to come

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Speaker 1: into contact with the air so it can breathe, allowing

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Speaker 1: those flavors to open up and reach your face. Many

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Speaker 1: other cocktail and wine glasses curve in at the rim

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Speaker 1: at least a little, reducing that effect. There's also a

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Speaker 1: rumor floating that back during prohibition it was easier to

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Speaker 1: toss the contents of a Martini glass during raids on speakeasies.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure whether that holds up scientifically, but for sure,

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Speaker 1: the propensity of Martini glasses to lead to accidental spills

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Speaker 1: is one reason why they've fallen somewhat out of favor

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Speaker 1: with bartenders. Beautiful though, these glasses. Maybe. Today's episode is

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Speaker 1: based on the article the straight up History of the

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Speaker 1: iconic Martini Glass on Howstuffwork dot Com, written by Kristen

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Speaker 1: hall Geisler. To learn more about the Martini cocktail, check

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Speaker 1: out my other podcast Savor. We did a whole episode

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Speaker 1: called Cocktail Out the Martini and Brainstuff is producted by

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, who is

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Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. Before more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,