The Storied Martini and the 31TEN Lounge Way

Few drinks carry the quiet confidence of a well-made martini. Glacial, aromatic, and slightly theatrical, it has shaped bar culture for more than a century and remains the cocktail most often ordered by someone who wants the bartender's full attention. In Australia, where weekend hospitality culture rivals anywhere in the world, the martini has found a comfortable home alongside flat whites and pinot noir on cosmopolitan drink lists from Sydney to Perth.

The drink's journey from a sweet Italian-inspired aperitif to the sharp, ice-cold pour most people picture today is one of the more fascinating stories in beverage history. It crosses continents, survives Prohibition, rides the wave of mid-century glamour, and adapts to whatever spirit fashion throws at it. Understanding that arc helps explain why the glass has never really gone out of style, even as cocktail trends rise and fall around it.

At 31TEN Lounge on Main Street in Santa Monica, we treat the martini with the respect its history deserves while still making it our own. Our version is built for guests settling into lounge seating on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday evening, looking for happy hour, table service, or a VIP experience before a late dinner. The way we shake, stir, and garnish it comes from years of watching how people actually drink them.

Origins and early evolution

The earliest ancestors of the martini appeared in American bartending guides in the 1860s and 1870s, when drinks made with gin, sweet vermouth, and a dash of bitters were already popular. One theory points to a bartender in Martinez, California, who allegedly mixed something similar for a gold miner arriving from San Francisco. Another, more romantic version credits an Italian immigrant named Martini di Arma di Taggia, who reportedly served a version of the drink at his New York establishment in the late 1800s.

By the turn of the century, the recipe had drifted toward a balanced two-to-one ratio of gin to vermouth, often with a dash of orange bitters and a lemon twist. The drink was considered elegant, not stiff, and was served in small coupes rather than the conical glasses we associate with it today. It was, in many ways, a sipping aperitif that happened to share a name with the sharper cocktail that would eventually dominate.

From the Jazz Age to the modern revival

The Roaring Twenties gave the martini a swagger. As American bars grew louder and Prohibition pushed drinking into back rooms and speakeasies, the cocktail became shorthand for sophistication and quiet rebellion. The conical glass itself became standard issue at parties in New York, Chicago, and Hollywood. After repeal, the drink settled into hotel bars and country clubs as the definitive before-dinner order.

Mid-century icons cemented its place in popular culture. Ian Fleming's James Bond ordered his "shaken, not stirred" beginning in 1953, and the line became a permanent fixture of cocktail menus worldwide. Vodka, once a niche spirit in the West, began replacing gin in American recipes during the 1970s and 1980s, splitting the drink into two distinct camps. The craft cocktail revival of the 2000s brought gin back to centre stage, along with smaller-producer vermouths and house-made bitters, and the martini has been quietly resurgent ever since.

Why the martini matters in Australia today

Australia's bar scene has long borrowed from American and European traditions, but it has also built its own confident voice. In Sydney, venues around the inner west and the Cross have spent two decades refining the modern cocktail list, while Melbourne's laneway bars are known for treating classics with the same care a sommelier gives wine. Brisbane and Perth have followed with their own strong scenes, supported by local distilleries such as Four Pillars in the Yarra Valley and Archie Rose on Sydney Harbour.

Legal frameworks shape the experience too. New South Wales introduced strict lockout laws in 2014 that reshaped late-night trading in Kings Cross and parts of the CBD, while other states manage their own Responsible Service of Alcohol requirements, RSA certifications, and venue trading hours. These rules affect how bars pour, how late they stay open, and how staff are trained, all of which influence what ends up in your glass. Australian drinkers tend to value freshness, provenance, and a sense of place, which is why locally made gin has surged in popularity and why Australian bartenders take extra care with their martinis.

Our pour at 31TEN Lounge

Our house martini begins with a choice between a London Dry gin and a small-batch Australian gin, depending on whether the guest wants something classic or more botanical. We combine it with a dry vermouth kept cold and a single dash of house orange bitters, then stir over crushed ice for roughly thirty seconds. Stirring rather than shaking preserves the clarity and silky texture that make a martini feel like a proper drink instead of a cold one.

The garnish is where we like to have a little fun. A classic lemon twist delivers bright citrus oil, while a green olive or a trio of castelvetrano adds briny depth. On request we will serve it Bone Dry, with the vermouth reduced to a rinse of the glass, or Dirty, with a measured pour of olive brine for a savoury finish. Served up in a frosted Nick and Nora or on the rocks in a small tumbler, each variation is built around the same philosophy of balance, chill, and clean ingredients.

Pairing the martini with the table

A martini is rarely just a drink at 31TEN Lounge. It pairs beautifully with the kind of appetizers that arrive when a group settles into lounge seating for the evening. Salty, briny bites are natural companions, and a plate of blue cheese-stuffed olives or a chilled seafood crudo can make a single round feel like a full course. For guests planning a longer evening, we recommend ordering alongside something richer, such as steak tartare or a wagyu carpaccio, where the gin botanicals cut through the fat.

If you are hosting a private gathering, the must-try appetizers we suggest round out the table nicely and work with both stirred and shaken variations. We also find that guests who enjoy exploring spirit-forward classics often move naturally toward an Old Fashioned, and our guide to crafting an Old Fashioned at home can help recreate the experience between visits.

Choosing your martini at 31TEN Lounge

• Decide between stirred and shaken based on texture preference, not cinema references.
• Pick gin for herbal complexity or vodka for a cleaner, more neutral profile.
• Choose your garnish before you sit down to keep service running smoothly.
• Match your martini with salty or umami-driven appetizers for proper balance.
• Plan your evening around happy hour from 6 to 8 PM for the full lounge feel.

Book a table on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday between 6 PM and 2 AM to experience our martini the way we intend it, with proper glassware, cold vermouth, and a garnish chosen to your taste. Reservations can be made through our special events page, where you can also see upcoming tastings, jazz nights, and private lounge buyouts. Whether you are a gin loyalist, a curious vodka drinker, or somewhere in between, we will have a glass ready when you walk in.