Gibson co*cktail: Classic, Classy and Cool (2024)

You’ve probably tasted a Gibson co*cktail before. But have you crafted one at home?

We got the inspiration to craft the iconic drink in our home kitchen after binge watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. Though we’re not professional chess players, we’re always game to flex our co*cktail muscles.

In simple terms, a Gibson co*cktail is a Martini garnished with pickled pearl onions instead of olives. The ingredients and presentation are so similar that some people refer to the Gibson as a Gibson Martini.

However, despite its similarity to Martinis, the Gibson offers a unique flavor profile thanks to its sweet and sour pickled onion garnish. These small white onions add a savory tanginess that creates a marvelous interplay with gin’s earthy juniper notes.

The Gibson doesn’t have a definitive origin story, though the martini variation was likely invented in New York City by a bartender or barfly named Gibson. To us, however, the co*cktail’s interesting history occurred in Hollywood.

The co*cktail appears in multiple episodes of The Queen’s Gambit, a period piece miniseries set in the 1960s. While Beth and her adopted mother repeatedly imbibe Gibsons in martini glasses and on the rocks on the Netflix show, this was far from the Gibson’s initial claim to fame.

Like many classic co*cktails, the Gibson recipe has a short ingredient list with just the following items:

Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.

With so few ingredients, you’ll want to use quality liquor when you follow our recipe at home. We crafted our Gibson with Portugal’s The Foxtale Gin and Italy’s Martini Bianco dry vermouth after buying both bottles at a local Lisbon market. However, you can use your favorite gin and dry vermouth brands for this recipe.

Discover our favorite gin co*cktails and our favorite dry vermouth co*cktails.

You should be able to find pickled pearl co*cktail onions at most grocery stores. If not, you can buy a jar online.

Crafting a Gibson requires the most basic of bar tools and no special techniques. You’ll just need a jigger, bar spoon and vessel for stirring the drink.

We like to stir our Gibson co*cktail in a glass shaker but any vessel will do. The same goes for the glass. We like to use a classic martini glass, but you could use a coupe glass instead.

Once you’ve tried our Gibson co*cktail recipe, you may want to modify it to your personal taste. Here are a few ideas:

You can adjust the gin to vermouth ratio. Our recipe uses a 3 parts gin to 1 part vermouth ratio; however, you can adjust this ratio in either direction when you experiment with the recipe.

If you want to ramp up the acidity, you can pour in some of the brine from the co*cktail onion jar. In this scenario, you’ll be drinking a Dirty Gibson.

Another option is to replace the gin with vodka. This is a great idea if you prefer the neutral flavor of vodka over gin or if you you’re temporarily out of the juniper spirit.

Finally, you can transform the Gibson into a Martini simply by using an olive garnish instead of a pearl onion garnish. However, you may want to follow a Martini recipe if this is your preference.

Frequently Asked Questions

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