Don't Be Shy: Spice Up Your Life With This Naughty-Sounding Martini

The latest cocktail and mocktail creations seem to pop up on apps like Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms. It has also become trendy for younger generations to bring back cocktail recipes that have existed since long before social media and the internet. In the U.S., cocktails became especially sought-after during Prohibition, when alcohol was banned from 1920 to 1933. Many people still looking for a good drink began making cocktails from the comfort of their own homes.

Whether you're headed to the city, a beach town, or your local bar, you may discover sex on the beach, a kinky pirate, a dirty banana, or a part-time lover. If your partner isn't joining you for your night out, you may want to explain that these are just some cocktails that can appear on a bar menu. If you'd like to experiment with your own cocktail creations, you can make a kinky-sounding martini that can be tricky to find at some bars in the U.S.

Believe it or not, a pornstar can sometimes be in limited demand — at least when it comes to martinis. The risqué-sounding pornstar martini was invented nearly two decades ago by the late Douglas Ankrah at the Townhouse Bar in Knightsbridge, London. Ankrah initially dubbed the drink a maverick martini after the Maverick's Gentleman Club he often visited while in Cape Town, South Africa. Eventually, he co-founded London's LAB bar, which is where he renamed the cocktail. According to the book "The Inquisitive Bartender," Ankrah said that he "wished to create a classy drink with a catchy name." While Ankrah's bar has since closed, the drink's name and flavor likely made it a popular staple at LAB. In the U.K., this naughty drink has become more and more popular, gaining notoriety as the U.K.'s favorite cocktail by Vice and the nation's most-sold cocktail in 2022 by The Morning Advertiser. 

So what's in one of the U.K.'s most beloved drinks? A pornstar martini requires vanilla vodka, passion fruit liqueur, passion fruit purée, lime juice, vanilla sugar syrup, and a shot of brut champagne — a dry, sparkling wine — on the side. In the U.S., having fruit purées on hand isn't exactly common, so ordering one at a bar may be challenging, but you can whip up the drink at home. Alternatively, some American bartenders familiar with the drink's success have started introducing it.

You won't be strapped entirely if you don't feel like making this martini from scratch. Luckily, Ross Simon used to work with Douglas Ankrah. Simon now offers the drink at his cocktail parlor, Bitter & Twisted in Phoenix, where he said the drink is a crowd-pleaser because it has something for everyone. Similarly, Bon Appétit spoke with Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Heaven in San Francisco, whose employees said they hand out between 50 and 75 pornstar martinis each night. Kevin Diedrich, who owns the bar, said it frequently gets customers traveling from other countries, which may be why the drink performs so well. He added, "We get a lot of Australians that just crush pornstar martinis," and added that it is a top performer with the tech industry group. Diedrich said he uses part of a passion fruit and a tiny spoon to scoop it out. "The running joke with the team is that the actual passion fruit probably costs twice as much as the cocktail costs to make," he said.  

Other bars in major U.S. cities have also started serving pornstar martinis. You may be able to find the cocktail in other areas like New York, Miami, and Las Vegas. Otherwise, if you're craving some culinary and beverage travel, it looks like your next adventure may involve searching for a pornstar in London.