Why should Martinis have all the fun? It’s time to dirty up other drinks, too.
Some things shouldn’t be dirty, like bedrooms (sorry Mum), windscreens and conversations within earshot of children and relatives – let’s keep those strictly clean, thank you very much. When it comes to drinks like the Martini, though, we’re firm believers that dirtiness is next to godliness.
When we talk about dirtying up a drink, what we mean is adding some olive brine into the mix. We’ve delved into the Dirty Martini before, and even offered up a few tips on how you can make your own bespoke brine, but there are plenty of drinks (and brines) beyond the classics that we think are just waiting for the same treatment. Bring your gumboots because things are about to get dirty.
As creative director of the Mucho Group, which includes Sydney’s Martini-heavy Bar Planet, Jeremy Blackmore knows his way around a Dirty Martini. For him, there’s a particular magic that comes from adding olive brine to what is otherwise a straightforward drink.
“It brings a lot of saltiness and umami,” he says. “There’s a bit of natural MSG in the olives themselves that makes it really moreish and, I think, for a lot of people, it’s a step into the Martini because it's less punch-you-in-the-face boozy. It’s more fun and you get a couple of extra olives to snack on as well.”
That last part (about being fun, not the extra olives) is important, too. Jeremy says dirtying up the classic Martini isn’t just about making it taste different and delicious, it’s also about letting anyone enjoy a drink that generally comes with a lofty reputation.
“We opened up Bar Planet and had a vision that we could make Martinis fun again,” he says. “Before that, it kind of felt like you’d get a Martini in a fancy restaurant, somebody would be wearing a waistcoat, and you'd have to treat it a bit more respectfully. We wanted to make it a bit funner, a bit sillier.”
The idea of making drinks fun, a little silly, and imbued with the salty, savoury flavour of olive brine isn’t just limited to the Martini. Creative mixers like Jeremy and his Mucho Group teams are already flexing their briney biceps with all sorts of inventive cocktails and it’s something that can easily translate to the home bar with these ideas below.
“At Bar Planet, we’ve used olive brine in our Bloody Marys,” he says. “We use a seaweed vodka and a little bit of red miso as well to add even more of that savouriness.”
If you wanted to go in another direction, though, you could always consider pickle brine (like in a Pickletini) to balance some of the salty richness with the sour notes of pickle-flavoured vinegar, or Jalapeno brine to dial up the spice.
Our tip? Forget the rim and instead add a whisper of salty olive brine straight into your Marg. It’ll give every sip some savoury complexity and even the tequila will get a little flavour boost – something Jeremy knows from experience.
“We made an amazing slushy Margarita at our tequila bar called Tio's and it was delicious,” he says. “We churned tequila, fresh lime, olive brine and some olive oil in the slushie machine and it made a very tasty dirty Margarita. Tequila works really well with it because it's got a bit of a grassy olive taste to it.”
Jeremy’s dipping a toe in with an olive, but could you go full Dirty Negroni? We definitely think so. The Negroni (that’s Campari, red vermouth and gin) has endless riffs and variations so nothing is sacred, and we think a touch of olive brine could easily work with that bittersweet, herbal flavour profile.
The fun doesn’t stop there, though – pick a brine and a Negroni variation and make it work. White Negroni and a little dill pickle brine? Americano with a dash of pickled onion brine? Sbagliato and salty caper brine? Hey, don’t let us stop you.
Classic olive brine works well because gin typically has a herbal flavour profile that works with the saltiness, and the slight bitterness of tonic is a little reminiscent of an olive. Beyond that, it’s open slather. Consider the brine from Japanese pickles (“They are a bit sweeter and not always sharp and acidic,” according to Jeremy), jalapenos or pepperoncini (for a spicy and vegetal addition) or even pickled onion, if you fancy freshening it all up with some vinegary tartness. Honestly, G&T and brine is a delicious experiment waiting to happen.
