Robert Simonson’s first martini was on a date in Soho back in 1991. Was it a mythic-level choice felt deep within his soul on a cocktail call to adventure? “No, I asked for a vodka and cranberry juice,” says Simonson. “My date said ‘you’re not ordering that.’ And she had them bring me a Gibson.” While the drink did not change his career trajectory overnight — he was a theater writer at the time and is now one of the preeminent modern cocktail journalists — it was a significant first step. “I realized this was a sophisticated cocktail. It changed my mind about what I should be ordering in bars.”
Simonson devoted an entire book to the cocktail in 2019, ‘The Martini Cocktail: A Meditation on the World’s Greatest Drink,’ and now comes his latest project, ‘The Martini Expo.’ It’s a weekend festival entirely devoted to the classic drink taking place in Brooklyn on September 12-13. What can people expect? “The first part of the day will be seminars,” says Simonson. “Led by people like Dave Arnold, Kenta Goto and David Wondrich. There will also be book signings. And there’s going to be plenty of food, because you can’t have a martini convention without food: Crif Dogs, Hamburger America, oysters, caviar.”
After all the cocktail education will be the main event: the Martini Mixer. “We’re going to have different ‘Martini Masters’ making their own special drinks in shifts,” says Simonson. “These are people well known for their martinis, including Dale DeGroff, Masa Urushido and Julie Reiner. Salvatore Calabrese is even coming from London to serve his famous Direct Martini. We curated the best gins, vodkas and vermouths. We’ve got Junipero, Sipsmith, Ford’s Gin and Farmer’s Gin and others. All the brands I use at home to make my martinis. We even have an olive sponsor.”
Simonson and his wife, Mary Kate Murray, came up with the idea for the expo, reasoning it was the one cocktail that could support an entire convention on its own. “It’s this wonderful historic drink that has endured for more than a century and a half, and it’s perennially debated and discussed.” says Simonson. “People read our Substack and take the ideas and run with them. So we decided to try to do it ourselves.”
With fanatical opinions on what is and is not a martini, will this Expo be open-minded to all opinions? “I mean we’re not going to have Appletinis or Espresso Martinis or anything like that,” says Simonson. “But we are not snobbish about things like vodka martinis. All our Martini Masters will be serving variations and some will have unusual ingredients. There’s a lot of latitude here. A ‘Martini’ is a very specific drink and it’s a whole range of drinks. You have to acknowledge that if you’re going to do a whole convention about it.”
What does Simonson look forward to most about the upcoming expo? “It’s impossible that people are going to leave this event not having learned something about the martini. They will know more about the way they like them and about drinking culture. They are going to meet some interesting people and some great bartenders. They will learn about their bars. We’ve tried to stuff as much as we can into the whole thing.”
And how does Simonson feel about my own Martini maxim: that it must be served with an odd number of olives, while an even number represents the apocalypse. “That’s my favorite superstition,” says Simonson. “People should really know better.”