Every Thursday on the show Oisin Davis, of the Damson Diner, recreates a classic cocktail from a classic movie. This week Oisin is looking at the Gibson cocktail from 1950's 'All About Eve', starring Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe. 

 

Oisin says, "I know I've said on so many occasions that precise details on who invented what cocktail can be often be blurry, but that is very often the case. Think about the last time you had one too many, you're not going to be 100% accurate about every element of what happened the night before. This is how it is with the creation of cocktails. Somebody mixes up some ingredients and if it tastes nice, they decide to give it a name and then drink a whole load more of them. The next day, before you have time to reach for a hangover cure, there are already 4 or 5 versions of how Cocktail X came into being. But what you really need to know is, The Gibson is a martini made either with vodka or gin and garnished with a cocktail/pickled onion. 

The origins behind The Gibson fall into this category. Like so many other cocktails, nobody knows who came up with it first. A new story has recently emerged from a guy called Charles Pollock Gibson. He's from San Francisco and his father's great uncle used to drink in the Bohemian Club. Charles' exact words to a drinks writer were, "The story goes that WDK Gibson objected to the way the bartender at the Bohemian made martinis. He preferred them stirred, and made with Plymouth Gin. He also believed that eating onions would prevent colds. Hence the onion." 

But what you really need to know is, The Gibson is a martini made either with vodka or gin and garnished with a cocktail/pickled onion." 

50 ml of your favourite vodka or martini (try Beefeater Gin) 

5 ml of dry vermouth 

3 small pickled onions on a cocktail stick 

 

Chill a martini glass with some ice. 

Pour the booze into a shaker with a fistful of ice. Stir it for about 20 seconds. 

Dump the ice from the glass and double strain the cocktail into it. Stir it again very quickly with the onions. 

 

Sláinte!