Wow! Lot’s of interesting answers.
The way I was told the martini and mixed cocktails in general began with the prohibition. As the booze was homemade and tasted awful it was mixed with sweeter stuff to make it palatable. Never knew it to be older than that.
A man is seated in a fine restaurant.
He finally sets down his menu and the waiter arrives.
Waiter: Maybe an appetizer my good man?
Man: Okay, make it a Martini
Waiter: I see, and would Monsieur like a salad?
Man: Yes, a Martini would be nice.
Waiter: Perhaps a bowl of soup?
Man: Sure, I’ll have a Martini.
Waiter: And for your entree?
Man: A Martini.
Waiter: Your second course?
Man: Another Martini.
Waiter: And for your main course?
Man: A … (pauses indecisively) … Martini!
Waiter: Perhaps some dessert?
Man: Yes, I’ll have a Martini.
[waiter pauses]
Waiter: And I assume that to drink you’d like a Martini?
Man: [shocked and hurried] No thanks, I’ll have a bottle of wine.
No, no, no. Bond always orders a vodka martini. You shake those, as stated by 5-HT above, to more effectively chill them. And you stir a regular martini so you don’t bruise the gin. Geez.
And Dogface-you may be right, I’m not a walking encyclopedia of drinks. But how cool would James Bond sound ordering a ‘Kangaroo’?
No, no…you have it all wrong…
For the world’s driest martini you fill a martini glass with chilled gin and add three drops of vermouth to the room humidifier.
Carry on.
yBeayf, flattery will get you … a Martini!
I fill my shaker with ice, toss in half a shot of vermouth, shake it, dump out the vermouth, fill it with gin, shake it gently so as not to bruise it, and pour it through the strainer top into a chilled glass over two or three speared olives. I keep my gin in the freezer so that I don’t have to shake heartily to get it cold, just enough for the gin to pick up the vermouth that had adhered to the ice. (Except I always forget to chill the glass, which isn’t too big a problem when you keep the gin in the freezer.)
When I order one at a bar, I’m always asked “Gin or vodka?” The appropriate answer is to look at the bartender like he’s a moron until he figures it out.
When I was in Italy a few years ago I ordered a martini and (on three separate occasions) was given something with a definite sweetness to it – it wasn’t a martini, but for all that it was pretty good. Anyone know what it was?
–Cliffy
Shaken please. If you don’t act like a crack-head with a castanet, shaking is not an issue. However I refuse to drink gin over ice. Unless your going to shoot the drink, by the time you get to the to the last 1/3 it’s mostly water. That’s just a waste of good gin.
My version 4 oz gin, 4 drops, 4 ice cubes (made with filtered water). Shaken gently poured into a cold glass. I shake the olive before adding. A little salt is good, brine is bad, in my humble opinion.
Bruise the gin? :dubious:
I’d love to see the biochemical explanation for that.
Me? 1/3 oz dry vermouth 1.5 oz bombay gin in full shaker of ice.
shake the piss out of it. Til your hand sticks to the shaker.
Pour in a cold empty glass with an olive…skewered with these really cool metal mini-swords I got from my mom in law when she cleaned out their bar in the move.
The olive BETTER impart flavor to the drink (big wet firm olive), the drink BETTER have little swirlys of ice shards in it.
I would tend to think the various volatile oils in gin do not benefit from the aeration received during prolonged shaking. Oxidation probably assists binding or decomposition of these delicate molecular chains in undesirable ways. Vodka does not posess such aromatics and should fare far better under similar circumstances.
Zenster, you got it right. I did the test once. Heavily shaken martinit, lightly shaken martini, stirred martini. It just got better and better. Of course the alcohol in my system by the end of the third might have had something to do with it. Vodka martinis are fine… when you have run out of gin and the stores are closed and you know of no one who has any gin and you have asked the neigbors to spare a cup of gin.
Mea Culpa
/me looks forward to this evening’s experimentation. 
From the linked article:
“the great exploding mosquito dustup”
A fine band name, if ever there was one.
I’ll…Be…Damned!
“So, UB, Do ya still beat your Gin?”
I guess not! I never realised a martini (real, legitimate, gin) could taste quite so peppery!
I told afriend of mine the joke about "How are Martinis and breasts the same. The punchc line is 1 is not enough and 3 is too much.
He pointed out that the statement was flawed.
Martinis and breasts should come in even numbers.
As a strict monogamist I have to agree.
I went for the 4-1 ratio mentioned and I came up with something that looked like flat beer. It was tastey and cold but I thought Martinis were colorless. I used Boodles 4 parts and Martini & Rossi Vermouth 1 part. I swirled them around in my giant sippy cup and poured. (all items chilled well)
What came out had the color of a medium ale. I drank it. It was cold and it’s warm outside. It made me want to go fishing.
I drank the rest. That was when I knew I shouldn’t go fishijng.
I’m glad I’m monnogonadamammalianistic. I couldn’t handle more than two. whoops, now i have to have 4,
I wroyte a eleven sylabalistic wurd. I’m a goin ta hell fur shur. It ain’t aloud around here.
Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam ( I furgets how many hail Jack Daniaels I is suposed ta say)
Boodles rules! (that sound really wierd, like poodles and stuff)
The worst thing to ever happen to drinkers of real Martinis? The apple “martini”. Unless the barkeep is doing a very good job cleaning out his or her shaker, that sour apple crap lingers for two or three additional pours. The real martini that follows the sour apple “martini” is undrinkable 4 out of 5 times.
Stirred. Bombay Sapphire. Noilly Pratt (sp?). Three olives please.
I prefer Plymouth, though most places don’t have it so I go with Bombay.