Martini Thread

How do you make your martini?
I'm sure it will be entirely unlike 'what oil should I use' threads and we shall enjoy uniform consensus.
I'm new to the game so I've only tried beefeaters and hendricks for the gin and dolin dry for vermouth.
Shaken chilled and served with a twist of lemon.
For ratio, I'm still experimenting
What are people's brands and ratios? I'm curious to go shopping and try some new combinations
Cheers

 

I fill a shaker with ice and add a teaspoon or two of the Dolin dry vermouth and let it sit while I collect the Hendricks from the freezer (I like it better super-cold, so it lives in the freezer) and assemble the glass, jigger, etc. Pour off the excess vermouth from the shaker into the sink while retaining the ice in the shaker. This gives me the dryness level I like - ‘residual’ vermouth only. 2 or 2 1/2 oz of Gin into the shaker and a teaspoon of olive juice if you want to dirty it up (more if you are really dirty, but too much gives me heartburn). Shake vigorously until ice forms on the shaker, pour into a glass and garnish with olives and maybe those little cocktail onions if you like them. I also like the gin called The Botanist.

 

Depends. I typically like a vodka martini, sometimes a vesper (half gin, half vodka). I'm not a fan of dirty. Olives or a little lemon for garnish is cool.

Instead of a vermouth wash, I've tried scotch. It gives it a different smoky flavor.

sjd

 

I like mine straight up with no vermouth. Keep a bottle chilled in the freezer.

I was in Russia over the summer on a family vacation and drank Ladoga vodka whic after all these of drinking various brands founds it to be one of the purist cleanest vodkas ever. Its not available everywhere but can be bought on line for about $20 but don't let the low price fool you into thinking its poor quality. It's actually fabuous and I've converted many friends who would only drink grey goose, belvedere, or kettle one. The next one that is closest to this one and probably more readily available everywhere is Reyka from Iceland.

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Not a big martini fan, but one of the most enjoyable we've had was the Espresso Martini @ Gordon Ramsay's
steak place in Vegas @ the Paris.



Coffee liqueur. Grey Goose. Shot of espresso. Fluer de sel. Shakey-shakey. Enjoy...T

 

I actually have found that vodka that is "in the freezer" makes a harsh martini (to my taste). I'm assuming its because the ice cold vodka doesn't melt any ice when shaken. So - for my taste - a room temp vodka shaken in ice comes out just right. I don't add vermouth...so I guess its really just shaken vodka "up" in a martini glass. The brand of Vodka is a biggie. I'm partial to Tito's, but Kettle or Belvedere or Grey Goose will do.

Until about 18 months ago, I drank a martini several nights a week. For whatever reason, I stopped drinking them at that time. No reason really, just stopped (rarely drink wine anymore either, and that used to be an every night thing).

EDIT: I will say that the rare bartender that could really properly "stir" the martini (where you get the ice going round and round with the spoon) made them the smoothest. I was dumbfounded at the difference between shaken and (properly) stirred when doing a side-by-side with a couple of bar tenders.

 

Lemon with a Gin martini? That sounds wrong

For Gins, you gotta try the next usual suspects - Tanquery (I don't like it for Martini's) and Bombamy Sapphire (my fav gin for martinis)

Other suggests as requested would be vodka with lemon twist, Gin or Vodka with Olives, and Gin or Vodka with blue-cheese stuffed Olives.

 

Potato vodkas, Chopin or Cirrus. Always have them in the freezer. Either onion or olive depending on mood. Little vermouth just because. Shake and perfect. Mainly a summer drink for us. Winter now so it’s Manhattan season.