The Doug Fir bitters I mentioned are nothing like Angostura. They are more like the ingredients and cogeners of the constituent gin.
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IMO one of the best gins out there is St. George Terroir, and its botanicals include Douglas fir. Those bitters might be a way to approximate it using a less expensive London dry like Tanqueray, Beefeater, or Bombay white label.
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My only comment is that the question about vermouth is misleading. I like a classic martini, 2:1 gin to vermouth, but with dry vermouth so it is not sweet. In fact, using sweet vermouth of any quantity in a martini would seem to me an abomination.
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Who puts sweet vermouth in a martini? And 2:1 is an awful lot of vermouth Standard is 2 1/2 oz gin, 1/2 oz vermouth.
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We enjoy the occasional dirty martini with vodka, olives and olive juice. Yes, I voted. What surprised me the other day in the liquor store is that they actually sell bottles of “dirty olive juice”. I suppose if you drink a bunch of dirty martinis then you’d need more juice. Not enough to go around in the jar. Never thought of it like that before.
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Five to one, as you suggest, is the modern dry martini. Historically more vermouth was used which is not surprising since the drink is named after Martini & Rossi.
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Maybe.
“The exact origin of the martini is unclear. The name may derive from the Martini brand of vermouth.[7] Another popular theory suggests it evolved from a cocktail called the Martinez served sometime in the early 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, which people frequented before taking an evening ferry to the nearby town of Martinez, California. Alternatively, residents of Martinez say a bartender in their town created the drink,[8][9] while another source indicates that the drink was named after the town. Indeed, a “Martinez Cocktail” was first described in Jerry Thomas’s 1887 edition of his Bartender’s Guide, How to Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks :[10]”
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I always thought the martinez was the OG martini. I like a good martinez, too.
Thumbs up for Tanqueray as the daily. I like G & T more than martinis, which actually is a good thing 
I dislike dirty martinis. It is a strong enough dislike that I seek out olives in vermouth rather than brine or just rinse off the olive (which is probably the better route since the ones packed in vermouth probably used a vermouth other than Dolin.
Do you dislike brine, or just brine mixed with gin? I’ve never seen olives in vermouth, but it doesn’t sound like something I would like - even dry vermouth would make the olive taste a little sweet, no?
No, olives in vermouth aren’t sweet at all. To me, they are less briny than the ones packed in just brine.
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Oh, okay. I am a big fan of brine, though.
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I like olive brine, but not in my martinis.
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Only pristine martinis for you!
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Yep. Aria gin, rinse the glass with dry vermouth then pour the rest out, two pimento stuffed/vermouth soaked olives.
I keep the gin, cocktail shaker and martini glass in the freezer.
Brine is fine. I love a good half sour with my pastrami or capers with my piccata. I just do not think it is a good addition to a martini.
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You’d love a local concoction, the Pickled Governor: local gin, pickle juice, spicy pickle. Beats a Bloody Mary for me any time.
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I can make that right here! My gin is very local - right in the kitchen.
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Sorry, it’s “jalapeño garlic dill pickle brine.”
Here’s a link to their cocktail menu. It’s a popular watering hole 
