Who invented the Espresso Martini?

Dick Bradsell invented the Espresso Martini in the mid-1980s at Fred's Club in Soho, London. A model — Bradsell only ever said 'a famous model,' often rumored to be Naomi Campbell — asked him for a drink that would 'wake me up, then mess me up.'

Richard 'Dick' Bradsell (1959-2016) was a British bartender who shaped modern cocktail culture more than almost any single figure. He worked at the Soho Brasserie, Fred's Club, Detroit, the Atlantic Bar, the Player, and others between the early 1980s and his death. He invented or popularized: the Bramble (gin, blackberry, lemon, sugar), the Russian Spring Punch, the Treacle, the Wibble — and the Espresso Martini, originally called the 'Vodka Espresso' or 'Pharmaceutical Stimulant' at Fred's Club around 1983 to 1984. The widely repeated story: a young model walked up to the bar at Fred's and asked for a drink that would 'wake me up, then mess me up.' Bradsell built it on the spot from vodka, espresso (Fred's had an espresso machine right next to the bar, unusual at the time), Kahlúa, and sugar. The drink rebranded as the Espresso Martini in the 1990s when 'Martini' was being applied to almost any cocktail served up in a stemmed glass, and the name stuck. The 2010s coffee-bar boom revived it as the late-night cocktail of choice.