"A dry Martini, you always shake to Waltz time."
--Nick Charles in The Thin Man
Mixing drinks is an essential skill of the drawing room. Whether you, personally, drink them or whether you don't is entirely up to you. But those around you likely will, and they will appreciate it when you mix for them the finest martini ever mixed. You will help resolve the arguments about whether a martini should be shaken or stirred. You will set straight the confusion about how much vermouth belongs in a dry Martini. These are not easy questions to resolve, so let's set to it right away. It is time for a three Martini lunch and you are the cook.
The drinks that will be covered here are all fairly easy to mix, and are all absolute classics. Stick to this list and you won't go wrong. All that is required are good bottles of gin, bourbon and vodka. Any quality bottles will do, but my personal choices are Tanqueray, Four Roses and Kettle One, respectively. Other good options are Gordons, Maker's Mark and Grey Goose.
In addition, you'll want to get a martini shaker. They are ubiquitous so if you don't have one, go somewhere and pick up a nice stylish one. You'll also need some vermouth. Martini and Rossi is a safe bet, but other French and Italian brands are more unique, so get those if you can find them. You'll want to get a bottle of dry, white vermouth and a bottle of sweet, red vermouth. In addition to making martinis, you can use these vermouths in your pasta sauces.
You'll want a few garnishes and mixers. A jar of stuffed green olives, an assortment of lemons, limes, oranges and maraschino cherries. Also: nice toothpicks, sugar cubes, a bottle of tonic water, a few different shapes of glasses and lots of ice.
With these ingredients, you can mix nearly a dozen Martinis, a couple of Manhattans, a Gin and Tonic, and that drink of drinks: The Old Fashioned.
wo major debates. How much vermouth should go into a Martini? And should a Martini be shaken or stirred? But first, a little background.
A Classic Martini consists of stirring two ounces of gin with 1/2 ounce of dry white vermouth over ice until extremely cold. The liquid is then strained out of the ice and into a glass. The drink is garnished with either one or two stuffed green olives, or a twist (a thin slice of lemon peel twisted over the glass and then dropped in). Although history is a bit cloudy on this issue, these garnishes seem to be the origin of Charles Dicken's ironically chosen name, Oliver Twist. As in, Olive or Twist?
This exact same drink can be made, but with the substitution of vodka for gin. This is often referred to as a Vodka Martini but is properly named a Kangaroo.
In all cases, if the Martini is shaken as opposed to stirred, then it is referred to as a Bradford.
Shaking a Martini has five major advantages. It more fully dissolves and integrates the vermouth. It makes the drink far colder. It causes the drink to be very slightly "watered down" and thus, less sharp. It looks neat, and thanks to icons like Nick Charles and James Bond, it is what people expect. And finally, it is fun to do and makes a musical sound.
The advantages of stirring a Martini are as follows. Some afficianados claim that shaking may "bruise" gin, giving it a slightly bitter flavor. Stirring will also produce a less "watered down" drink. Stirring has a musical tink-tinking quality of its own.
If you want to play it safe and use a logical system, then shake martinis made with Vodka, and stir those made with Gin. Debate closed. When you shake a martini, shake it however you like until the shaker becomes ice cold.
Debate number two. How much vermouth should be used? This debate is very tricky because people have gotten some strange ideas from watching too much television. As I've mentioned, a normal Martini will have four parts gin or vodka to one part dry vermouth. A Dry Martini will have something like five parts Gin or Vodka to one part dry vermouth. An Extra Dry Martini would have only a splash of vermouth, and on and on. Today, many Martini bars use ridiculous devices such as misters (makes just a mist of vermouth over the shaker). People continue to request drier and drier Martinis, having no idea why they are doing so, but merely repeating bits of lore and wisdom that they've heard in the movies. Ordering a "Vodka Martini, extra dry" does have a nice ring to it, but it is also sort of stupid. It is the same as saying, "Give me a twelve dollar glass of cold vodka please, but first shake it up a little."
You'll want to avoid that nonsense, and educate those around you. There is one type of person who is well suited to truly drink an Extra Dry Martini and that is the Winston Churchill/George Patton type. Those no nonsense serious drinkers that find the whole mixing drinks notion to be absurd and, frankly, a little "unpatriotic" or "liberal." For those types, and long may they live, I offer the following recipes:
Churchill or Hitchcock-- Five parts Gin and a quick glance at the bottle of vermouth.
Clark Gable-- Run a cork moistened with vermouth around the rim of the glass.
LBJ or the In and Out-- Pour some vermouth in a glass, swirl it around, and dump it out before pouring the Martini.
George Patton-- Point the bottle of vermouth in the direction of Italy.
Anther variant of the Classic Martini that is worth trying is the Dirty Martini, which includes a splash of olive juice from the olive jar. This can be made with or without vermouth.
All Martinis may be serves in any glass that will hold them. Proper Martini glasses are nice, but not mandatory. Consider suiting the type of glass to the individual you are mixing the drink for. Old jars can make suitable glasses in the right context. All martinis are served "straight up" meaning, without ice.
A Manhattan can be made by using bourbon as the base, and sweet red vermouth in place of the dry white variety, using the standard 4:1 ratio. All Manhattans are constructed right in the glass and served with "rocks" or ice. Garnish Manhattans with a cherry or two. A Dry Manhattan mixes Bourbon with white vermouth. A Perfect Manhattan mixes 2 ounces bourbon with 1/4 ounce sweet and 1/4 dry vermouth. These variations should be stirred in the glass before serving.
Pour a couple ounces of gin into a tall glass filled with ice and add a generous splash of tonic water. Squeeze a lime wedge over the drink before dropping it in and stirring. You have just mixed a Gin and Tonic, which is an excellent and refreshing summer drink.
Finally, the Old Fashioned. Crush a sugar cube in the bottom of a sturdy glass. Add just enough water to dissolve the sugar. Add a two or three dashes of bitters if you can find them. Add about 3 or 4 ice cubes. Pour in about two ounces of bourbon. Squeeze an orange wedge over the glass and drop it into the glass. Add a couple of cherries. Stir and serve. And remember:
"Just because a man has more hairs on his head than there are stars in the sky, does not mean that he can throw a party that movies stars will attend...and enjoy...responsibly."
--The Brak Show
Please drink responsibly.
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