It’s rather like being hit on the back of the head with a velvet-covered nightstick, but more expensive.
As perhaps you’ve guessed, I don’t drink martinis. I am with AHunter3 - if that was a good martini, then that is how it is supposed to taste, and it isn’t going to get better. I would rather spend my liver cells drinking something I enjoy.
Regards,
Shodan
If I’m going to make myself a Martini instead of a Manhattan, the likely recipe will contain Aviation gin, Dolin vermouth and some boutique stuffed olive, like the jar of Alien Fresh Jerky (Baker, CA) Sicilian-Style Habanero-Flavored Garlic Stuffed Jumbo olives I just found in the fridge. Shaken until frosty and imbibed before it gets tepid.
Maybe to celebrate Friday…
A worthwhile cause for celebration. I use them to celebrate Saturdays. One of my very favourite pastimes is baking pizzas while drinking Martinis and listening to the Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show. Fridays for me however are heralded by Manhattans, Friday Night Rocks on Planet Rock and - more often than not - deep frying something.
Celebrated Monday with a Manhattan: 3 parts Quarterhorse rye, 1 part Dolin vermouth, Peychauds bitters, 3 cherries cuz that’s how I roll. 
Last time I had a good martini? I just made myself one. 3:1 Tanguray to Lejon vermouth, and 3 olives(I usually do 4, but I gove up one for Lent:D )
Try it with Tanguray #10. It’s an extremely citrusy gin.
Arggggh! A healthy-yet-fun restaurant near us has a wonderful (and long: 3-6:30) Happy Hour. Really creative (yet cheap!) house cocktails.
A friend texted me today, “Happy Hour in 15?”
Then followed it with “Crap, I forgot for a second! Ummm, in June?”
My problem is I don’t have the ingredients or experience to make a stellar Manhattan or an Old Fashioned that’s half as good as I’m used to getting. So I’m sticking to simple drinks like my classic “Splash Some Bourbon And Bitters Into A Ginger Beer”. (or Diet Coke)
Can you get them to go? LOL, but a lot of our area’s restaurants have been permitted to sell beer and wine to go along with their food orders. Don’t think it extends to spirits though, and not in your area anyway. Bummer.
I hope we will be able to go to restaurants again by June.
I’ll second Aviation Gin (makes a GREAT GnT) Deadpool did well in buying into that company. I also like Hendricks, and when I’m slumming New Amsterdam.
I like it dirty, gin stored in the freezer, and because they’re absolutely nobody to judge me, I’ll throw a couple of ice cubes in with the mix to keep it cooler longer. If you must put the gin in a shaker, swirl, don’t shake…otherwise you might as well have made a Vodka martini.
I recall having a couple exceptional martinis…some in restaurants as a vendor was spending a couple hundred dollars to get us to spend a couple million on their product. Had a couple great ones at Golf courses (I don’t golf). A few really remarkable ones had bleu cheese olives…and I’m betting they made them themselves as every storebought Bleu Cheese Olive I’ve found thusfar has been lacking.
In my opinion, this is the key to an excellent martini: Noilly Prat dry vermouth. As long as you’re using a decent gin (Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire, or even Beefeater or Gordon’s in a pinch), the Noilly Prat will bring out the best in the gin.
I’m pretty sure I’ve tried Tanqueray gin. Dunno about numbers. I really on a fundamental level don’t want to put something that tastes like juniper greenery into my mouth. It’s just not a taste for which I have any appreciation. Totally tastes like an industrial cleaning product to me.
Oddly, I use juniper berries in small amounts in some of my cooking. It’s a different taste. Even then I wouldn’t want it except muddled up into a composite of other tastes.
Swirl a little sugar and water together in the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass until dissolved. Add a splash of Peychaud’s bitters (Angostura if it’s all you got). Fill glass with ice, add rye or bourbon. Top with a splash of seltzer and a twist of lemon peel. It’s an Old Fashioned. The best barkeep in the world couldn’t do it any better than you just did.
(I dislike the “garbage,” as it’s called, but you can put in an orange slice and maraschino cherry if you must)
For an Old Fashioned they say a sugar cube, but that’s way too much for me. I choose a tasty (not smooth) bourbon like Woodford Reserve.
And I like the orange (peel) flavour, so I cut the peel (be sure not to get the pith, which is bitter) and mash the oils in the bottom of the glass as your first step.
Hendricks is a very un-junipery gin. Tastes like cucumbers to me. Tasty, you might like it.
You won’t like Junipero Gin, which pegs the needle for juniper, in a delightful way. Sipsmith’s VJOP might have more juniper flavor, but is hot and clumsy by comparison. And costs a bit more.
The mention of Aviation Gin is a great one, IMHO. I like Martin Miller’s as well for Martinis.
Carpano Antica is essentially the original sweet vermouth. It’s more intense than say… Martini and Rossi or other standard vermouths- more bitter, more aromatic, more body, etc…
I love the stuff- other vermouths seem kind of insipid by comparison. But others consider it too intense for cocktails, and best used for spritzers and other vermouth uses.
Thanks much, Ike and K, I’ll give it a try.
I grew up having hundreds of my dad’s Classic Wisconsin Old Fashioneds, and there was plenty of “garbage”. I swear he made them mostly because they were a lot of work (and yes, we had to stand back while he was ‘engineering’ them). He had a wooden pestle and would muddle a little sugar, orange peel, lemon zest and a cherry, add a lot of bitters (Angostura was all we knew back in the day) and Korbel brandy. Topped with a splash of Graf’s 50/50 (a grapefruit/lime soda… Squirt comes close).
Damn thing was almost too sweet, but it quickly became one of my “comfort foods”. And easy to find in Wisconsin; I’ve been touring bars and supper clubs comparing them. You can order one Sweet, Sour or Press. Found a local joint that torches the orange peel for a smoky, caramelized note.
Now, to be honest, the rye or bourbon versions are more upscale (local barkeep says the Maker’s Mark distillery serves a great one… road trip!). And I’m comparing the various bitters made by Bittercube, but still love Angostura.
Side note: grew up with my parents pausing for “cocktail Hour” every day. Mom drank martinis, and I just hated gin. But loved the “brown booze” dad drank.
Those tastes have held through adulthood. I’ve tried to like gin, ma, I just can’t!
Tanqueray is very junipery, Tanqueray No.10 is a different beast. You could go back to the beginnings of the Martini concept and have a crack at Plymouth though: it’s still got juniper in (it’s gin, after all) but it’s much lighter and more citrus. It’s what was specified in some of the earliest formulations of what was ultimately to be codified as the Martini, and early recipes were less of a gin-heavy mix too. 2:1 gin:vermouth, sometimes even 1:1.
But…if you don’t like juniper then the obvious answer - which I believe you’ve already discovered - is to not drink gin!
That sounds spectacular. If you’re not careful, Martini can make quite a sweet and sickly Manhattan if used alongside a whiskey without a bit of power and spice. That could be just the ticket.
So yes, I’m going to get me some of that! Just had a quick check around a few of the mail-order booze companies and it looks quite available. Thanks for the tip!
digs @35: Cheese; sausage; beer; bizarre Old Fashioneds…sometimes I feel Wisconsin is the true heart of the Civilized World.
The cherry’s involvement depends on my mood, but since I discovered proper Luxardo maraschino cherries (rather than the neon red things in watery syrup I used to routinely get), they work their way in more often than they used to.
Orange though…I think the aroma of orange peel is a pretty important element of the experience for me, so I do that rather than the lemon twist. That or a dehydrated orange slice; the orange juice part of the garbage isn’t that welcome.
Yeah, I kind of miss being able to spend an evening at a bar. I don’t miss the screwballs that typically inhabit them, though.
Years ago, I spent a few months trying to make martinis at home. My twist was to shake them in small canning jars (the kind with the hinged lid and rubber seal) that I’d used to store black pepper kernels and coffee beans. Each jar was coated inside with a fragrant, oily film, some of which ended up in the martini.