I’m raising a glass to this mini marvel with its puzzling pick secured inside. I imagined that a guitar-themed cocktail would be in order as an obvious reference here, and set about determining if such a drink exists. Cycling through the popular guitar brands led to an epiphany when I reached “Gibson”, which is also a well known classic cocktail (which has nothing to do with guitars but is nonetheless a perfect pick).

The Gibson cocktail is simply a gin martini with a pickled cocktail onion (rather than an olive). Some classic cocktails are amusingly distinguished by such a simple, single attribute. The history is well known but considered spurious, like many cocktail origin stories, and involves a San Francisco businessman named Walter Gibson in the late eighteen hundreds who may have lent his name to the drink. The martini with the pickled onion was first mentioned by name in The World’s Drinks And How To Mix Them by William Boothby, 1908, albeit without the onion at that time – that would only appear later. So you can see how unreliable a cocktail history can be, as drinks changed over time. Some like their Martinis bright and refreshing, others like them savory, and the Gibson falls into the latter category. It provides new layers to what seems so straightforward – like a great puzzle. Cheers!

Gibson

2 oz gin

1 oz dry vermouth

Cocktail onion

Stir gin and vermouth with ice to chill and strain into a stemmed glass. Cocktail onion garnish essential.