All those James Bond movies and it never occurred to me to find out why!! Today I was reading a book on cocktail making, and in the instructions for a vodka martini, they said quite clearly, “Never shake!”
Why not??
I’m pretty sure that gin bruises if you shake it. Perhaps it’s the same principle.
I don’t know about vodka martinis, but shaking “bruises” the gin. The aeration of the drink produces a slightly different flavour than the drinker would get otherwise. Also, shaking with ice will cause more melt, diluting the drink. And martini drinkers want to get plastered as quickly as possible.
Personally I feel it is probably pretentious posing fostered by those who don’t have the sophistication to appreciate good scotch.
Scotch is good!! Langavulin 15 years… the best!!
Several good bartenders have told me that you stir a gin martini to avoid bruising the gin, but you shake a vodka martini to make the vodka as cold as possible. I always thought the bruising bit was a myth, but I’ll defer to people who care about the taste of their gin. For vodka martinis it’s certainly true that you want them as cold as possible. Personally, I keep the vodka in the freezer and forgo the ice altogether.
Oops, I screwed up in the OP. I meant to say gin martini. But you all have covered it anyways!!
This was the subject of a Staff Report: Why did James Bond want his martinis shaken, not stirred? and here’s an old thread in that forum discussing it.