Will Thompson isn’t terribly impressed with the state of gin these days. When the owner of Sunny’s in Miami goes out on the town in search of a Martini, he often faces a bit of a dilemma. “I look at the backbar and there’s six gins that I think all taste kinda like shit,” he says. He feels there’s been a downturn in overall gin quality and proof level. But he always perks up when he sees supporting characters on the backbar—like absinthe, or Chartreuse—so that he can request them in an “improved” Martini. His favorite is the Puritan.
At the turn of the 20th century, an early recipe for the Puritan appeared in a “sideboard manual” for gentlemen (home bartenders, not professionals) published in Boston. The recipe called for a ratio of two parts Plymouth gin to one part French vermouth, a spoonful of yellow Chartreuse and three dashes of orange bitters.
Because of its gin, yellow Chartreuse and bitters, the Puritan tends to be grouped in with the Alaska, a cocktail that was a popular call at Drink in Boston, where Will Thompson was working in the early 2010s. He says Misty Kalkofen introduced him to the Puritan there, and he’s preferred it to the Alaska for quite some time now. “The Alaska is an extremely loud drink,” he says. “Both in terms of booze and flavor, you’re just really kind of maxed out on everything.”
The vermouth, therefore, is vital to the Puritan’s balance. “It’s gonna unpack everything a little bit,” says Thompson, who uses Dolin’s version. “It’s gonna tone down how almost astringent gin can be.” To play that gin role, he reaches for Hayman’s London Dry, which he says has “snappy, clean juniper” flavor, and plenty of citrus, angelica and orris, too. For the liqueur, though some modern bartenders might reach for génépy, Thompson believes there’s no substitute for the specific profile of yellow Chartreuse. He likens the genuine article to Heinz ketchup, saying that artisanal or alternate versions can be great, but most of the time he just wants the real thing.
Finally, though the earliest recipes for the Puritan don’t call for a garnish, Thompson feels a lemon twist is essential to lifting the drink and adding yet more dimension. The importance of expressed lemon oil in this spec also has a bearing on the glass Thompson opts to use: a genuine Martini glass. “They suck to carry to a table,” he admits, “but with that much surface area you can get a ton of that lemon aroma.”
The Puritan is part of Sunny’s deluxe Martini program. Patrons seated outside get special service: Ice water is dumped from the V-shaped glass, and a small amount of the Puritan is poured and garnished, then the rest is left chilling in the little cobbler shaker in which it was conveyed.
Thompson says that the Puritan is a cult classic at Sunny’s. The understated cocktail gives experienced Martini drinkers a chance to branch out without veering too far into uncharted waters. It’s “a nice simple way to introduce some complexity and some depth,” he says, “without breaking the thing that drew you to the cocktail in the first place.”
