I love a good Vesper. How can you go wrong with a cocktail made with gin & vodka?
A really nice variation on a martini.
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I tried that yesterday. I’m a Sherry at the end of the day fan, so the chilled Lillet was right up my alley. Very pleasant!!
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OK - I did it. Please ignore the cat kibble and the lemon peel - I couldn’t find my channel knife.
Anyhoo - smoother than a regular martini to me — and I rarely drink them, or any cocktails.
Knocked me right on my bony little butt. I’m going to take a restorative nap now with the kitties.
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Michael Ruhlman explores the passion folks have for the “right” ratio for a martini in this week’s newsletter:
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Thank you for sharing, that was a fun read. I found this quote interesting, however:
(Note to Bond: a Martini is never shaken. Period.)
Vodka martinis are stirred, too? Who knew!
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The stirred or shaken discussion intrigues me, because the real issue (at least for me) is not bruising the botanicals (a likely fallacy) or clarity (the effects of aeration from shaking dissipate quickly). It is temperature. Shaking chills more quickly. I find that the amount of time taken to achieve your own ideal temperature and dilution is key. Since the amount of time to make a single shake is likely much less than the time to move a spoon around the stirring glass, you need to develop some consistent criterion to get exactly the result you want. It could be the number of shakes or the number of turns, or it could be the number of seconds for each. I find it much easy to use the rhythm of numbers than to watch a sweep second hand. Using a timer could kill the mood.
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It would certainly make for an interesting (and delish) experiment at casa lingua: blind-tasting the stirred and shaken martinis, respectively, with all other elements being the same.
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Please share your results!
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I shall!
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I’m not against shaking a martini, but I’ve had too many that were shaken so vigorously that shards of ice found their way into the glass. I find this unappealing.
Normally a sign that the bartender didn’t double strain
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They do the thing where they shift the shaker lid to the side and pour through the gap. This is a bad method.
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That sounds like they don’t know what they are doing - st that point I would pay for my cocktail and move to other bars (the other pointer is when they don’t measure out amounts and just do “free” pours)
If you are interested in more background information there is also Dave Arnold’s Liquid Intelligence which has, not surprisingly with him, a chapter around dilution, cooling etc.
For Science!!!
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I chose the bar because I was meeting someone for dinner a block away, so one drink was all I intended to have.
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Always!
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Yes, a martini is clearly appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day.
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Half a century later, I gave orange bitters a first try. They were a nice element in a 3:1 Tanq and Dolin but seemed out of place in a 3:1 Bombay red cap. For the sake of science, I’ll keep trying.
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I got a bottle of yuzu bitters a while ago and never looked back.
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