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COCKTAIL · Classic cocktails

Gibson

PUBLISHED · 19 Oct 2026

A Martini with a pickled onion instead of an olive: drier, sharper and just as cold.

Abstract illustration of a Gibson: a V-shaped cocktail glass of pale drink with a cocktail onion on a pick
COCKTAIL

A Martini with a pickled onion instead of an olive: drier, sharper and just as cold.

INGREDIENTS
  • Gin60 ml
  • Dry vermouth10 ml
  • Cocktail onionto garnish
METHOD

Stir the gin and vermouth with plenty of ice until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a cocktail onion on a pick.

ORIGIN
CREATED
1898
CREATOR
Walter D. K. Gibson (credited)
STATE
United States
LOCATION
San Francisco, California
HISTORY

The Gibson first appears in an 1898 New York World column by Edward W. Townsend. It is said to have been created at San Francisco’s Bohemian Club, either by businessman Walter D. K. Gibson — who removed the bitters from a Martini — or for illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, who later inspired the cocktail onion garnish. The first full recipe appears in Boothby’s 1908 World’s Drinks.

✳Gibson
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