Coastal Martini

Boxes and Booze

Mar 23

As fads go, drinks are as susceptible as any other trend, like fringe fashion, the Mediterranean diet and sequential discovery puzzles. In San Francisco, a martini trend that captured and capitalized on the Bay City’s coastal allure recently had a moment. Drinks featuring bay laurel, Douglas fir, ocean brine and even the fog itself have been favored on many menus. All of these “Coastal Martinis” pay homage to the godfather of brine, the dirty martini, but offer some new twist or refreshing flavor which elevates and renews the old formula in subtle or complex ways.

What better drink then to toast in place the coast in case, an homage cocktail for an homage box, with the same sort of name. Anyway, I was in the mood for a Martini. San Francisco bartender Drew Record of Chezchez builds his coastal martini variation like a Bamboo, another classic made with dry sherry and dry vermouth. He enhances the salinity of manzanilla sherry with Scandinavian aquavit, another coastal origin spirit. I leaned into a coastal gin rather than using aquavit for a more classic Martini template in my version, and used dry madeira rather than sherry, which brings a subtle sweetness to the glass. A few drops of high quality olive oil enhance the experience in this toast to the coast. Cheers!