And the winner is the Gibson (lovingly referred to as "Onion Soup"). Basically a Gibson is a dry Martini with cocktail onion instead of olive or lemon peel. But even something this simple is full of controversy over who invented it. There are about three different legends of how this drink come around.
.....One story has it that an American ambassador named Gibson serving in London during Prohibition wished to make his English guests welcome with a good cocktail. Inexplicably he personally felt constrained to follow his country's laws even while abroad. So during receptions he would circulate carrying a glass of water with a cocktail onion in it, while the guests would be served real gin. When someone asked his aide what the diplomat was drinking, the young man answered "a Gibson."
.....Steve Zell at the Occidental Grill in San Francisco says the name came out of Chicago. "You'll notice that Gibsons are usually served with two skewered onions. I heard that during the twenties in Chicago there were twin sisters named Gibson who loved Martinis but hated olives. Whenever they'd go out, they'd get the bartenders to use two pickled onions - twins for twins."
.....A more likely story is that Charles Dana Gibson, the famed illustrator and creator of the Gibson Girl, dropped into The Players, his New York club, and asked the bartender, Charley Connolly, to mix him "a better Martini." Connolly simply exchanged an onion for an olive and dubbed it the Gibson.
Yet another story: "The Waldorf's Old Waldorf Bar Days of 1931 credits the Gibson as being in honor of Billie Gibson, sports promoter, promoter of fights, famous in his day... forgotten now. Certainly doesn't make for such a culturally resounding Gibson story...... but that's rather an argument in its favor don't you think? --Doc."
.....But no matter how the Gibson came about, it is truly my favorite libation of those I've put forth. So if you've never had one, grab your shaker and a cocktail onion and give it a try.
.....Well, thanks for spending some time here in the friendly confines of the Martini Lounge. I hope you leave a little refreshed, a little relaxed, and a little wiser. Come back again sometime soon. I'll be mixing up some new and different variations of the one and only Martini.
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