Most may remember the vodka martini as one of James Bond's cocktail of choice, shaken not stirred as he would put it. I however lean toward a classic or gin martini. Made from two ingredients it is a perfect cocktail to make at home for guests. First the components:
I Like the Plymouth gin for this as it is quite smooth. Martini & Rossi dry vermouth is also what I prefer for this recipe. It is a simple and cheap vermouth that is quite good in a martini (hence the name I suppose). Just these two simple ingredients are what make up one of the most famous cocktails there is. After mixing appropriately you end up with a gin martini.
Unfortunately I did not have any olives on hand for the garnish but you get the idea. The recipe I used for this is something I came up with on my own after trying a number of differing types of martini's.
3oz. gin
1/2 dry vermouth
olives for garnish
Pour the vermouth in a glass full of ice. Shake the vermouth by itself to thoroughly coat the ice. Strain the excess vermouth and then add the gin to the ice. Stir the gin and the ice together until chilled. Strain into a martini glass(of course) and garnish with 1 or 2 green olives on a toothpick.
One may ask why you would go to the trouble of using vermouth at all if you are just going to pour it out. I like to think of vermouth as the salt for gin. You want to put some in it to enhance the natural flavor of the gin, but not so much you start to clash with it. The amount that sticks to the ice is enough to make is taste just right.
Something else you may notice is that I did not shake the gin with the ice and instead stirred it. The reason for this is that when you shake gin with ice you end up with a drink that has very thin ice shavings floating on top of the martini. I personally do not like that but I have several friends that prefer it icy than not. It all comes down to personal preference.
This, my friends, has been one of my go to beverages for several years now. It is easy to make and is always a good choice for a pre-dinner cocktail.
As always, stay safe.
