Patrick Hanlon

THE MARTINI IS the Guinness of the cocktail world. Both drinks are gloriously simple yet agonisingly complex, rigidly rooted in the ritual. For Guinness, it’s the tilt, the settle, the anticipatory wait and the creamy thickness of the head. The quick scan, too, before ordering to see if it’s already flowing, or whether to hold fire.

For the martini, it’s the depth of the chill, the elegance of the glassware, the level of dilution, and the tightrope between dry and wet; clean and classic and dirty and brine-y. Knowledge is knowing which pubs do “a good” Guinness, but wisdom is knowing which cocktail bars or fancy hotels worth their salt are slinging a solid martini.

I may have recently disclosed that I’m still fairly green when it comes to sweet and fortified wines, but a martini I’m as familiar with as a partner’s hidden beauty spot. My weekly Saturday evening Gibson in my LSA glassware is sacrosanct. If a hotel or restaurant I’ve been to has made their take on a martini a signature, you bet I’ve tried it.

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We’re talking ‘dirty’? I once had a literal oyster shucked into a martini in Edinburgh, its liquor as the brine and the meat as a garnish. I’ve replaced Gordal olives with guindilla peppers, the piquant, preserved Spanish chilli used in the pintxo gilda, to make a spicy garnish with a filthy fiery brine. I regularly daintily dot peppery, grassy olive oil on top for colour and flavour, and have experimented with fat washing gin with beef dripping.

Not messing around

I take martini-ing seriously, nigh on obsessively, nerding out over its many iterations, but in its essence it’s a simple beast. There is, however, a ‘tini for every taste: what appears super rigid is actually surprisingly customisable. It can run the gamut from dry to wet, pure to filthy, savoury to sweet, subtle to intense, and crystal clear to marvellously murky.

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, martinis are cropping up all over the shop of late. It dovetails with that trend of less is more, forgoing faffy cocktails with infusions, foams and potions for the well-made, reliable basics. Ditto the desire to drink less, but better.

Global alcohol consumption continues to gently track downwards and, in Ireland, the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland 2026 figures show another 2.1% annual drop in average alcohol consumption, with consumption now down over one-third (35.6%) from its 2001 peak.

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A martini is a slow, luxurious, powerful sip to linger over, a different proposition entirely to sinking four or five pints in a row. Though it can be a quickie, too. The sharpener is slowly emerging as a phenomenon in the cocktail dens and cool restaurants of London, New York and beyond.

An anti-spritz, of sorts, these dinky, ice-cold mini versions of classic cocktails like martinis, manhattans and negronis sit somewhere between a shot and a full serve, designed to stay freezing cold and enjoyed pre-dinner as a snappy, enlivening sip.

So, in the spirit of knowing where to procure a good one, here are five stand-out spots for a martini…

The Libertine, Dublin 8

The Libertine may be the best thing to happen to Dublin in 2026. Occupying, and reimagining, what was 57 The Headline, where Leonard’s Corner and Clanbrassil Street meet, their Chip Shop Gibson is a revelation.

A vibrantly pink pickled onion turns this a pale pinky-purple, while the glass is frozen to keep things properly Arctic. It’s strong, intensely savoury, bone-chillingly cold and unusual to behold.

This neighbourhood joint has not one but SIX martinis in its wheelhouse: one is a Tzatzikitini, a lactic, herbaceous little devil with yoghurt vodka, dill and cucumber, and another is Peaches and Cream, cream-washed gin, smoky BBQ pickled peach and basil oil. For something lighter and more botanical and floral, the G&T Martini uses Hendricks gin with rose, quinine and elderflower.

Ómós, Abbeyleix

Ireland’s most lauded restaurant opening of 2026, in many ways an Irish counterpoint to NOMA, Ómós in Abbeyleix is already shaping up to be one of Ireland’s great defining restaurants, and it’s not yet three months open.

The custom-built restaurant sits between a sprawling kitchen garden one side and lake, forest and farmland the other, while a crackling fire pit in its interior terrace space was the perfect spot for a pre-lunch drink recently.

The kitchen is all about foraged, preserved, pickled and lesser-known, wild Irish flavours, and their take on the martini is a stunner: garden-inspired, infusing gin with aromatic, woody, perfumed blackcurrant leaves, sourced from Rose Cottage Farm, ten minutes up the road. I think it’s a perfect start to the spectacular tasting menu.

The Collins Club, Dublin 2

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The Dexter’s Laboratory of Dublin’s cocktail scene, you wouldn’t guess from the plush interior of the cocktail bar at The Leinster that it’s a hidden mastermind of mixology. They agonised so much over their twist on the perfect martini — Vodka or gin? Shaken or stirred? With a twist or dirty? — that they say they “just blended it all together”.

Their signature ‘Juniper Martini’ is a twist on the Vesper, which traditionally combines both vodka and gin, while they go even further with a dash of Mezcal for smoky depth.

Their vermouth of choice is Cocchi Americano and their garnish is neither olive nor lemon: it’s pickled grape, delivering the right level of bright, briny juiciness and crunch. On Thursdays, The Collins Club also serves a €35 martini flight: three martini serves, three different garnish ‘bites’.

Hawksmoor, Dublin 2

Hawksmoor says martinis are the “cornerstone” of their drinks list, particularly Stateside, but Dublin is no different, where martinis are a massive focus in their former bank building restaurant on Dame Street. They work directly with Fermanagh-based Boatyard Distillery on an exclusive Hawksmoor Gin, which they use in their Ultimate Martini alongside Dolin vermouth and preserved lemon.

Boatyard Vodka is also their choice for their Ultimate Steakhouse Martini, a spicy, savoury, dirty twist on the classic with green peppercorn, olive brine and a dash of Chardonnay. For something sweeter and more floral, a vodka-based lychee martini — with lemon, vanilla and orange wine — is part of their ‘Sacred Six’ signature cocktails.

What’s more, in late 2025, Hawksmoor doubled down on their martini game by opening a dedicated martini bar at their St Pancras location. Will Dublin follow suit?

The Westbury, Dublin 2

There’s no real competition. The Sidecar is THE martini hotel bar of Dublin. The Art Deco stylings, the dedicated martini trolley service, where your order is produced and talked-through table-side, the pixie Prosecco to sip on as an amuse bouche while your order is made: there’s nowhere else doing it like the Sidecar.

An adult Happy Meal of a Gallery ‘Clubhouse’ sandwich with fries and ketchup, chased with a Sidecar martini, is the stuff of Friday lunchtime legend. I personally don’t vibe with their own brand ‘house’ gin, so I always request Tanq 10, and can I suggest a Dirty Gibson — asking for both olive brine and a pickled onion garnish, to make the filthiest little sip.