The onion , known in its pickled form as a “pearl onion,” is, like the olive, a cocktail garnish strongly associated with a single cocktail, in this case the Gibson (though they are occasionally found skewered atop a Bloody Mary). Early recipes for the Gibson, dating back to the turn of the last century, show it as a garnishless drink, simply dry gin and dry vermouth (a Dry Martini was those plus orange bitters and, as garnish, either a lemon twist, an olive, or occasionally a cherry). It is unclear how or precisely when the Gibson acquired the onion, but that acquisition was in place by 1922, when it is mentioned in Belgian bartender Robert Vermeire’s Cocktails—How to Mix Them. (Ten years before Vermeire, it must be noted, an onion-garnished Martini was popular in Seattle, Washington, as the “Judge Hanford Martini,” named after a local sport who liked his drink made thus.)
In any case, the onion provided a point of differentiation between the Gibson and the Dry Martini once the latter had been stripped of its orange bitters. The onion as garnish reached its high water mark in the 1930 Until recently, tiny, flavorless, commercially produced onions were considered sufficient to the task. By the twenty-first century, however, some enterprising bartenders began to pickle their own. Todd Thrasher in Alexandria, Virginia, and Nick Mautone in New York City were pioneers on this front. Craddock, Harry. Savoy Cocktail Book. London: Constable, 1930. “Hanford Cocktail Served with Onion.” San Francisco Call, July 13, 1912, 11. Morgenthaler, Jeffrey. The Bar Book. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2014. Simonson, Robert. “In Praise of the Gibson, the Classic Cocktail That’s Finally Getting Its Due.” Grub Street, July 28, 2015. https://www.grubstreet.com/2015/07/in-praise-of-the-gibson.html (accessed March 5, 2021). By: Robert Simonson