A woman reminded at-home bartenders of the importance of double-checking their martini ingredients in a now-viral TikTok. As it turns out, Trader Joe’s olives might not be the best choice for a dirty martini.
TikToker Mean Jessica (@meanjessica) shared a picture of an extra-briney dirty martini garnished with several stuffed olives on a toothpick, reaching over 157,000 views. However, she notes that the perfected cocktail was actually her second attempt of the night.
Her first attempt didn’t go to plan. On-screen text explains, “Tonight, I learned the hard way that Trader Joe’s packs their blue cheese stuffed olives with olive oil and not olive brine.”
While she doesn’t share a picture of the oily cocktail, she questions Trader Joe’s recipe. The caption reads, “Props to @World Market for making it right. (#traderjoes…WTF??).”
Have Others Made The Same Mistake?
On the r/traderjoes subreddit, users spanning several years warn others to avoid the same mistake.
One user said they loved the stuffed olives and decided to make a dirty martini. However, they were quickly disappointed.
“Just a heads up, the blue cheese olives are packed in oil and make for a very disgusting, dirty martini. It’s like drinking salad dressing. The olives are very good to eat, but don’t waste booze like I did trying to use them in a drink,” they wrote.
Another responded, saying they made the same mistake but tried to power through the awful texture.
“Made this exact mistake on NYE. I drank it anyway because fancy vodka, but it was like drinking pure olive oil. The olives themselves are delicious, though,” they said.
In an email to BroBible, Jessica suggested that the packaging could better indicate that the stuffed olives wouldn’t work for a dirty martini.
“The packaging could be a LOT more informative. It wasn’t until my dirty martini went wrong that I looked at the ingredients on the back,” she shared. “I love Trader Joe’s and generally have no complaints with their stores or products, so this experience really shocked me.”
Which Trader Joe’s Olives Work For Dirty Martinis?
Despite widespread warnings to avoid the blue cheese-stuffed olives for dirty martinis, other shoppers said Trader Joe’s has other great options for the beverage.
“The garlic stuffed olives and the combo garlic/jalapeno stuffed ones are both excellent. If you like garlic,” one suggested on Reddit.
Another recommended the grocery chain’s lemon-stuffed olives for a citrusy kick. They wrote, “These lemon-stuffed olives are great for that. The lemony flavor of the olive is quite nice with the martini, and the vaguely lemony brine is also quite excellent in the drink. Bonus points: cheap af.”
Some also suggested using the blue cheese-stuffed olives only as a garnish and using a different jar for brine.
Viewers React To The Oily Mix-Up
In the TikTok comments, viewers joke dabout the “martini emulsion.”
“No worries you just made a fancy restaurant $30 martini,” one remarked.
Another said, “Oof not the taste you were expecting lol.”
“Kinda like a detox,” a third joked.
One even said the video came on their For You Page just before using the olives in a martini. They wrote, “How did they know I just bought blue cheese olives from TJs and was going to try and make this tonight.”
Others share dhow they repurposed the jar of oily olives.
“My husband actually rinsed ours out and put them in a different olive brine. Because we did the same thing and ended up with oily martinis,” a viewer suggests.
“With the oil out of the jar you can ‘wash’ the vodka to get some of the taste out if you don’t want to buy a new jar but it’s a nightmare of a process,” a second writes.
BroBible reached out to Trader Joe’s via contact form for further comment. We will update the story when we receive a response.