Here’s the deal, I make a damn good vodka martini. I have it down pat and figured out the ratios of vodka and vermouth that I need. I don’t need to measure or anything and can make enough at one time for whoever wants one with not much bother at all.
I decided to expand into normal gin martinis. I’ve got Bombay Sapphire gin, as the first rule to a good martini (like so many things) is quality ingredients.
My main problem seems to be getting the vermouth amount right. At first, I used the same ratios I was using for my vodka martini, but was dissasitified, as gin has a much stronger flavor than vodka. So it wasn’t coming out right. I talked to my boss about this issue (he’s a worldly man and someone I look up to, which is rare in bosses), and he said that I was making things too dry. So he told me a standard martini should be 2oz of gin and 1/4 oz of vermouth.
So I tried that and, quite frankly, it’s crap. Not dry enough. Frankly, I’m getting sick of experimenting. So I beg the Board to post some suggestions.
I gave up on martinis. I do like gin, but just not so straight. Now, I’m looking at vodka martinis forever, I think. And I don’t use olives anymore, either. I use “tomolives”, pickled green tomatoes, salty, crisp and delicious.
I know as an American drinker, there’s a lot of pressure put on one to create and like gin martinis, but it’s still not required by law.
Making it dirty is a good suggestion. Also, are you using cheap vermouth? A good vermouth helps quite a bit. I seem to be constantly pimping King Eider vermouth in these martini threads. I don’t always have it around myself. It’s a nice treat though, and it does very well in a martini.
Good vermouth can be enjoyed all by itself. That doesn’t mean you need to use it every time in your martinits, but like I said…it’s a nice treat. Try going to a hoity toity wine shop. You may find good vermouth there. It is wine after all.
I had good vermouth from the tap in Spain-- it can be tasty.
As far as gin martinis with Rossi and pals-- I use so little that I basically just rinse the ice cubes with vermouth. I like them dirty sometimes-- Santa Barbara olive company for one makes bottles of olive brine (so you don’t have to pour out all the brine from your jars of olives.
There was a great essay in the New Yorker (?) at some point about how little vermouth one should use. Loosely paraphrasing from memory, “My father would carry a newly-purchased bottle of gin and walk slowly in front of a well-locked cabinet that held a bottle of vermouth within. Once a year, on Christmas, I look sternly at a bottle of gin and just silently mouth the word “vermouth” towards it. . .” I wish I could find that essay. I think it might have been Roger Angell in the food issue from last year. Anyone still have a copy of that?
Bombay Sapphire is good, but overrated and probably more suited to the gin and tonic mix. Try making your martinis with Beefeater, which is arguably the best gin made for martinis.
For vodka, I highly recommend Tito’s, if you can get it. I like mine way dirty and made with garlic olive juice/garlic olives (not stuffed, just soaked.)
I tried vermouth for the first time this past weekend. My brother threw a party, and he had an old bottle of vermouth on a back shelf, a few ounces left in it, and I figured I’d give it a try.
It wasn’t bad. Bland, a little vinegary tasting, and I didn’t much like the flakes of herbs floating in it, but not bad.
Yeah, I know. Flakes of herbs? Try dead fruitflies.
I’m never drinking my kid brother’s underused liquor again.
