Today, in honor of Lunch Week here at The Kitchn, we're setting out in search of a legendary beast of days gone by, that Bigfoot of the corner office: The Three-Martini Lunch.
How Did They Do It?
How ever did those Mid-century, Mad Men-type business execs manage to swing it? Made mostly of gin (or, if you prefer, vodka) with a measure of dry vermouth mixed in (and, okay, that little bit of dilution that comes from stirring it with ice), the Martini is one bracing beverage. There's no soda, no fruit juice, no syrup, no ice cubes to lighten things up. It's all booze.
Have of these in the middle of a workday and you probably won't find yourself at your most productive when you get back to your desk. But three? How is that even imaginable?
Size Matters
Well, it's all about portion sizes. Along with everything else in America, cocktails have become supersized over the years. Originally designed to be short, stiff drinks that could be consumed quickly enough to stay icy cold til the finish, they've since ballooned to birdbath-like proportions.
If you look at the pic directly above, you'll see a cocktail glass from the 1940s (left) alongside one I purchased at a big chain retailer last year (right). While the modern glass holds a hefty 10 ounces of liquid, the vintage glass holds a scant 4 when filled to its brim (many others of the same era held 3 ounces or even 2). In this lies the answer: Three Martinis from the late 50s/early 60s were the rough equivalent of a one Martini as portioned in many American bars and restaurants today - perhaps not a recipe for success in most modern work environments, but manageable enough to leave a Mad Man standing.
(Sidenote: If you'd like to see these smaller cocktail glasses in action, there's no better place to look than classic film: check out The Thin Man (1934), All About Eve (1950), Sabrina (1954), North by Northwest (1959), and The Apartment (1960) for some great Martini- (and Gibson-) sipping scenes.)
What are your thoughts on the Three-Martini Lunch?
Related: Living With Mismatched and (Mostly) Vintage Glassware
Nora Maynard is a longtime home mixologist and an occasional instructor at NYC’s Astor Center. She is a contributor to The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and is the recipient of the American Egg Board Fellowship in culinary writing at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. She previously covered food and drink in film at The Kitchn in her weekly column, The Celluloid Pantry.
(Images: Nora Maynard)
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I think the 3 martini lunch should come back into the workplace. Of course that may encourage other Mad Men like behavior as well, but even without the zippy dialogue it will be fun to watch!
It's very true that glass sizes have increased. Even the standard shot glass has become larger. I have a set of vintage anchor hocking shot glasses and they are also much smaller than most modern shot glasses. They hold probably about 1 fluid ounce of liquor compared to 2.5-3 fluid ounces.
A few years ago, there was a restaurant in SF doing a "Steak & 3-Martini Lunch" promo. A group of coworkers and I went, but we selected a Friday afternoon as we knew we wouldn't be making it back into the office afterwards!
I've never had a three-martini lunch, but a while back when I was working for a small office, we all went to lunch for a bit of bonding. I can vouch that a 5-mojito lunch destroys productivity, but boosts office morale.
Oh, the Thin Man! Just a mere mention of that movie makes my day brighter. But small or no, I don't think anyone can deny that Nick and Nora drank a LOT of alcohol.
this reminded me of one of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans - Commander's Palace - they have a lunch special during the week that includes 25 cent martinis (limit 4) I always make a point of eating there when visiting and I've worked my way up to 3 per meal, granted they are pretty small but still I use to not be able to make it past one, not sure if this is something to be proud of...
Yep, Nick & Nora drank a LOT but they are fictional characters with fictional hangovers.
Maybe we do need to go back to those days. Back then were investment firms inventing securities they knew would fail so they could bet against their own customers? Maybe if you drink 3 martinis at lunch your brain is too foggy to come up with such dastardly schemes.
I was given some martini glasses as a gift and was appalled to discover they were 10 oz glasses! I prefer my vintage martini glasses (still in the classic cone shape) that are much smaller - probably only 3 or so oz. at the brim.
Just a quick note - people drank a LOT more alcohol in the '50s and '60s. Remember all those cocktail parties? They were probably more acclimated to consuming lots of booze and a 10 oz of hard liquor over the course of an 8 hour day was probably not enough to really affect them much.
And whatever happened to keeping a flask in the desk drawer?
Was American truly less productive when its captains of industry were slightly more relaxed?
Just make sure you are not my doctor, teacher, nurse or paramedic.
Iona, ok, maybe a medical person having a drink on the job would be dangerous, but a teacher?? I can remember quite a few of my high school teachers who definitely would have been less uptight and horrible with a drink or two in them. Certainly for teachers of the humanities, where you're teaching more ideas than exacting facts, a very small tipple at lunch would not affect the ability to be a good teacher.
You have three martini work lunches when part of your work is drinking and schmoozing. Now or then.
Not hard to imagine.
I have a 1935 Old Mr. Boston cocktail guide, which lists a Dry Martini to be made this way:
1 1/2 oz. Dry Gin
3/4 oz. French Vermouth
1 dash bitters
Stir well with ice and strain into a 3 oz. Cocktail glass. Serve with an olive.
I have a number of old cocktail glasses, and the Martini / Manhattan glasses hold 3 ounces with about 1/4-1/3 inch head room. Some of these are 30'-40's vintage, the others 50's vintage. The old fashioned glasses, which needed room for a slice of fruit and a couple cubes of ice hold about 5 1/2 ounces, with head room. The shot glass i have that matches the old-fashioned glass holds exactly 1 1/2 ounces if it's nearly full to the rim.
I have a 1989 Bartender's guide which mentions in the glassware section that 'modern' cocktail glass hold 6 ounces, not the tiny 3 ounces they held in the 'art deco' era. I suspect that the advent of the sweet 'blended' rather than stirred or shaken drinks required the larger glasses to hold the 2 ounces of alcohol with the syrups and ice.
About 8 years ago I bought a set of Target Martini glasses, and they hold 9 ounces, with headroom. Wow.
Now that the martini is back in vogue, those 9 ounce glasses hold a whole lunch full of martinis instead of just one.
Nice, I think I would probably order a martini more often if they came in the smaller glasses. Mine usually gets warm half way through and makes it hard to finish.