A Martini Question

Pour a little chilled white vermouth in a chilled glass and swirl it about to coat the glass. Then pour it out. Now fill the glass with chilled gin (and ice if you wish). Garnish with a slice of lemon or lime.

chuck

I started drinking Martinis as a kid during WW II. Here's how I've been making them for the last 20 or 30 years:

Pre-chill your glass in the freezer.

Fill a drink mixing glass 2/3 of the way or so with ice cubes. Add 4 oz of Very Dry Gin. Stir gently.

Add 1 tsp Dry Vermouth. Stir gently.

Get olive jar from refrigerator and remove one large pimento filled olive. Replace jar. Get hardwood toothpick. Impale olive on toothpick.

Remove pre-chilled glass from freezer and place impaled olive therein.

Stir mixing glass gently one last time. Using ice strainer, pour contents into glass.

This sequencing, I have found essential. It allows the alcohol content of the Martini to come down to a level where it becomes quite delightful.

BTW Martini straight up, one olive; Martini rocks, two or three olives. Lemons, limes, onions, etc., while making nice drinks, do NOT make Martinis!

The way I make a martini more palatable is to make it with vodka. I can deal a gin and tonic just fine, but straight gin never really did it for me.

The important thing is that you make it to your liking. I prefer my martinis with a proper 2:1 ratio, which you did, and I like them chilled but not on the rocks. So I mix the above in a shaker and lightly shake a few times. Another post above suggests using almost no vermouth. While popular, this is not the proper proportion (in terms of tradition) for a martini, although the vermouth still adds something to it. If you don't like gin, you probably won't like gin martinis, however, and I don't think reducing the vermouth would add to your drink if it is in fact the gin that you have trouble with. I do, though, think it's an acquired taste. I did not like my first martini, and now it is my favorite mixed drink. I can't stand dirty martinis or other vodka "martinis." Again, it's all about preference.

Enjoy, John

John is absolutely right: you make it to your liking. When I first had them, a Dry Martini was 3:1, a Very Dry was 4:1. As he said, it's all about preference. It's also my favorite mixed drink.

i agree w/ this post.

a contemporary martini is a very "subjective drink" w/c is why the recipes for martinis vary so widely across the 20th century.

a vodkatini, although not a "classic" martini, is my drink of preference because i prefer vodka to gin. but you are already following the most common convention of 2:1 gin:vermouth. depending on how "sweet" (or dry) you like your matini though, temper the amount of vermouth even more. you often hear the phrase "whisper of vermouth", w/c is to coat the glass with vermouth first, then dump out the vermouth and then add your other ingredients for mixing. personaly i'm not a fan of that method.

lastly i think a good martini is a very cold martini. not on the ice, but definitely very cold.

oh and re: mixing, definitely mix w/ ice first and then strain the drink from the ice. u can also attempt to "shake" instead of stir the drink w/c ends up watering down the drink more but does a better job of chilling IMO ... w/c isn't entirely unpleasant. :)

What about just adding some water instead of ice to a martini? Wouldn't just adding water be the same as mixing or shaking the gin and vermouth with ice?

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I'd advise you to use cold water, at about 25 degrees Fahrenheit... in order to chill the ingredients really well. Anders

A good martini, but of course the mixture must be "shaken, not stirred".

;>)

I find that shaking bruises the gin. ;-)

Ah, that's just those girly-men gins; they bruise so easily. A good upstanding Beefeater will take a shakin' and still be unruffled. Except for the ruffles in the uniform.

My Can't Miss Martini

Take a martini glass and fill 3/4 with Plymouth gin, add a dash of vermouth. Add olive juice (optional for "dirty" martini) till all turns slightly green. Take a martini shaker, and put in 3 to 5 cubes of ice. Pour contents of glass into shaker. Shake until sides of shaker begin to frost. Strain contents of shaker back into glass. Garnish with two olives on toothpick.

You can create a make-shift shaker by combining a tall glass and a short glass's open ends together ... you want to get a water tight seal, so test first. The key to the martini is the gin, and Plymouth is some of the best I've had.

Taking a moment's reflection, Von Fourche mused: | | Another off topic post but I figured some of you can give me some | pointers. | | How do you make a traditional Martini drink? I have the gin and | vermouth. | | Last night I put about 2oz of Bombay gin in a martini glass, then | put about 1oz of vermouth in and stirred. I drunk about 1/4 of it and | then got rid of it. | | I have to admit, gin scares me a little. I can drink high | proof scotch and bourbon. But gin has a very sharp edge taste to it. | | Are you supposed to stir the gin and vermouth with ice first? Then | strain into a martini glass? | | Any pointers? | | Thanks!