Eh, go ahead and post the link; we might as well be egalitarian about this. Thanks!
I’ve had the Bond martini and I liked it. The lillet is softer than vermouth and the whole thing is less aggressive than a pure gin & vermouth blend. Gordon’s is owned by Tanqueray. It’s not their top shelf brand, obviously, but it’s pretty drinkable.
Actually, you really should have some water in a martini, as it opens up the flavor and smooths it out a bit. Frankly, I’d respect some of the martini wankers more if they’d just be honest enough to order a double vodka up.
Personal taste is variable, of course, but IMO it’s about as good as you’re going to reasonably get; the differences among top-shelf gins are more about style than quality. Sapphire is pretty well balanced with regards to aromatics. Tanqueray malacca gin (RIP) was IMO better, and was less junipery and more aromatic. In contrast, Junipero is one of the trendy martini gins; you can probably guess what the primary flavor is. The other trendy gin these days is Hendrick’s; I think it’s weird and flowery, but a lot of people like it (the schtick is that they claim it’s cucumber-flavored). There are also some small-batch gins that are pretty well balanced.
I’m not familiar enough with the less-well-known British gins or genever, so someone else will have to comment about those.
Try Colonial Wine and Spirits.
If they just haven’t updated their inventory, let me know and I’ll get back to you in a week or so.
I have found Bombay Saphier is about as low cost as you want to go and still have a reasonable martini. There is a noticeable improvement in some of the more upscale gins. Plymouth makes a remarkably good martini or gin and tonic.
With this thread in mind, I made a couple martinis this weekend and tried to replicate what the OP was talking about.
First of all I have a stainless steel shaker. I don’t think I’d try this with glass, but it would probably be fine.
Anyway, add a few ice cubes to the shaker. Add vermouth. Add gin.
Here’s the key part: shake it like a motherfucker.
Seriously. I don’t think you need any special ice. Now, if you believe that gin can be bruised, this is obviously going to bruise it.
But what I got out was a cloudy concoction with bits of ice that fit through the strainer. If you have one of those hand-strainers, you can get bigger pieces of ice through it than what you will just out of the shaker.
It was a nice martini.
Let’s hear it for empirical research! Actually, I did the very same this past weekend, although I used commercial ice, purchased from the local liquor store. But I used the stainless steel shaker and the same technique in shaking; and the panel of judges (that is, my wife and I) got the same results: the cloudy liquid, the ice bits, and so on. And it was indeed an excellent martini.
Kind of research I should do more of, actually… 