Martinis That Aren’t Martinis

Into The Barchive · Apr 23, 2026 · 35m · transcript

Welcome back to Into the Barchive, where every drink comes with a past.

This week, we’re asking a deceptively simple question: when is a martini… not a martini? 🍸

Step into the neon-lit world of the 1990s, where anything cold, colorful, and served in a V-shaped glass earned the “martini” label—whether it had anything to do with gin and vermouth or not. From Appletinis to the now-infamous Porn Star Martini, this episode explores the era when cocktail culture traded restraint for spectacle.

But before writing off this sugary, technicolor chapter of cocktail history, we dig deeper. What cultural…