I prefer Hendricks to Bombay Sapphire for martinis.
I think it might be ‘Apple Sourz’ that was in it, it’s a really sour apple flavoured shooter that doesn’t taste of alcohol and, due to this, is highly lethal to drink when already drunk - I speak from experience!
I like Beefeater for martinis or Gordon’s if that’s not possible. For G&Ts I prefer Tanqueray.
This works fine for G&T. In my experience, not so well for martinis. When making a martini, you need some of the ice to melt into the gin during shaking. It smoothes the gin a little and I think allows you to perceive the vermouth a little better.
Are their any martini drinkers out there that have tried King Eider vermouth? I was turned on to it by a very nice bartender a few years back. I asked for a Citadelle martini and he asked me if I had ever tried King Eider. He told me that the Citadelle drinkers he knows love it. They make the martini with 2 parts gin and 1 part vermouth. That’s waaaayy more vermouth than is trendy these days, but it made a fabulous drink.
King Eider is a spendy vermouth, but I occasionally splurge on a bottle for home. It’s golden in color, so making a martini with the 2-1 ratio I mentioned definitely gives it a little color. I really makes a great martini though.
I’m a Bombay Sapphire man, too. I usually take my gin in a Singapore Sling… if you’ve never had one, you’ve never enjoyed gin.
Or a diabetic coma. A Singapore Sling is the sweetest think i’ve ever had the mispleasure to drink, and I once drank an entire pint glass of sugar.
Ack! No shaking! Only stirring! No matter what James Bond tells you. Now that I think of it, Bond may drink vodka “martinis” anyway, so you can’t pay any attention to the man.
There’s an old joke I heard. Maybe I heard it on here, I don’t remember. Anyway, it goes like this…
Two WWII RAF pilots are getting ready for a mission over hostile territory. As one is packing the bag he carries with him, in case he gets shot down, with necessities like a radio and flare gun. He sees the other pilot packing only a bottle of gin, a bottle of vermouth, and some olives.
Confused, he tells the other pilot, “I’ve brought several signaling devices, so if I get shot down, I can tell people where to find me, and I’ll be rescued. But you’re not packing anything like that.”
“Au contraire,” says the other RAF pilot, “I’m packing all I need. See, if I get shot down, and need to be found, all I have to do is pull this bottle of gin from my pack, add a little vermouth from this other bottle, add a few olives, and I know within five minutes, someone will find me, leap from the underbrush and yell: That’s not how you make a martini!”
I haven’t really had much gin, but Bombay Sapphire was the last I drank. I thought it was very good, but alas, Killer has banished gin from my drink menu. It doesn’t look like I’ll have much opportunity to try the other recommendations. 
I do tend to be a traditionalist when it comes to martinis. I stand with all of you who decry “vodka martinis” and all of the other fake cocktails that suburbanites like to convince themselves are actually martinis. I find this trendy aversion to vermouth most unpleasant. Real martinis have vermouth in them! Vermouth isn’t applied with an atomizer, it isn’t swished around and then dumped out, and it isn’t “waved around the glass”.
Having said that, I’m not sure that I’m convinced of the stirred, not shaken argument. I read Cecil’s dissertation on the matter. The part about shaking resulting in a colder drink makes sense. The rest of the business about “bruising” the gin and “disolving the vermouth” seems dubious to me though.
I am nothing if not open minded however. I will commit to a side-by-side comparison this weekend…even if the results may send my in-laws fleeing the house is revulsion.
I wasn’t convinced, either, until I also did a side-by-side comparison. I found the shaken martini to have a slightly sharper “edge” to it, and wasn’t as rounded a taste as the stirred martini if that makes sense; describing tastes is more of an art and a science, I think). I liked the rounded taste better.
These test were both performed with Bombay Sapphire, so perhaps other gins react to shaking differently.
Another Plymouth drinker here. It was apparently the gin of choice for Roosevelt and Churchill. I find it to be much more rounded in its flavor than the overwhelming juniperiness of Bombay.
I fail to see a down side to this.
I usually go for Tanqueray 10 when I’m in the States, but bars over here don’t tend to stock it, so I’m partial to Plymouth or Bombay Sapphire too.
On the other hand if all they’ve got is Gordons, Beefeater or some extra dry shite, then I’m having beer.
Okay. I’ve done a side-by-side, and -dammit- I like Citadelle better.
Oh the shame. I like a French gin. What’s next, Italian beer?
The dedication to the scientific method on this board (sniff) is truly moving. Bravo, all!
Additional wierdness…France also makes Grey Goose…IMHO the best vodka around. So France makes the best wine, brandy (cognac), gin and vodka. Some may argue the gin and vodka choices, but it’s still a pretty good track record.
They can’t make a decent beer though. Neither can the Italians.
Word, Ass for a Hat and Necros. The gin/vermouth martini is the only true martini.
My only unorthodoxy is preferring the pearl onion (making it a Gibson), rather than olives, which I never really got a taste for.
I have Bombay and Portsmouth in my freezer; I like the Portsmouth, but most of my friends prefer the Bombay.
Stirred, most certainly. You don’t get that frothy, milky result, and I find much less ice chips to dilute the experience.
Has anyone tried the Scottish gins: Cadenhead’s Old Raj Dry Gin (which has saffron as one of the botanicals!), or Hendrick’s?
I can attest. I’ve had the misfortune to drink both French and Italian “beers” for one of those beer around the world things.
I caused me to formulate a theory about beers. If a county does not have a germanic or slavic language, it cannot make beer worth crap.
Evidence:
French beer = Bad
Italian beer = Very bad
Dutch Beer = good
German beer = good
Belgian beer = very good (Flemish is a germanic language)
Mexican beer = bad (unless you either beleve marketers or like formaldehyde)
Word back at you. When I first started drinking martinis, I didn’t care for olives either. I’ve since been righted. I now love olives in the drink. Though I don’t care for all of the fancy-dancy stuff that gets stuffed inside martini olives nowadays (garlic, jalapenos, etc). The only unusual olive stuffing I really enjoy is gorgonzola.
On the subject of the Gibson… and since we’re all endorsing our favorite brands…If you haven’t tried McSweets, you truly have not lived. The instant I tried these, I swore off all other pickled onions forever. Order a jar, I promise you won’t be sorry.
You’re not using this freezer gin to make martinis, are you? If so…HERETIC!!!