Martini

Probably the most iconic and popular cocktail of all time is the Martini. It has the simplest of ingredients with just 3, but is the hardest for so many to get right. The things to consider is the reason:

1. Gin or Vodka? The classic martini is always Gin. If you use vodka, it is then called a Kangaroo, but no one calls it that.
2. Shaken or Stirred? Stirred, always. The famed James Bond 007 Secret agent only insisted on it shaken because his character was a rough and tumble guy who did not follow the norm
3. Garnish: Typically an olive, but a fresh lemon rind gives it so much more flavor, depth and sophistication
4. Ratio: It should be 3 parts gin to 1 part dry white vermouth, bartenders think that most people like it 5:1 but some like Martini Aficionado Michael Ruhlman) who wrote a book on cocktails, like them 6:1.
5. Temperature: While the general suggestion is 1c or 33F, I personally prefer them much colder like 15F because by time it gets to me and I take a sip, it has already gotten warmer and by the last sip its room temperature.

Alton Brown has the most interesting idea. Freeze dry vermouth and water together in an ice cube tray.  Drop it into 3.5 ounces of gin and once the cube is fully melted, stir and serve at the perfect temperature.

Variations:

• Kangaroo: swap/exchange the gin for vodka
• Buckeye: garnish with black olive instead of green with pimento
• Gibson: garnish with cocktail onion instead of olive oil
• Hemingway: substitute absinthe in place of dry vermouth
• Ava Gardner or Churchill: No vermouth and/or just a spray from an atomizer, lemon rind garnish

Farmer’s Gin Martini

• 2 ounces Farmer’s Organic Gin
• 1/2 ounce Dolin Blanc Vermouth
• 1/2 ounce Fiji spring water
• 3 dashes Fee’s Orange Bitters
• Lemon rind twist/garnish

“I like to have a martini, two at the very most – After three I’m under the table, after four, I’m under my host.”
Dorothy Parker

“I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”
Humphrey Bogart

“He knows just how I like my martini – full of alcohol.”
Homer Simpson

“Martinis are the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.”
EB White

“A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy.”
Noël Coward

“I am prepared to believe that a dry martini slightly impairs the palate, but think what it does for the soul.”
Alec Waugh

“A man must defend his home, his wife, his children, and his martini.”
Jackie Gleason

”I had never tasted anything so cool and clean.” “They made me feel civilized.”
Ernest Hemingway (Farewell to Arms)

“I never go jogging, it makes me spill my martini.”
George Burns

“Happiness is…finding two olives in your martini when you’re hungry.”
Johnny Carson

“One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.”
James Thurber

“If it wasn’t for the olives in his martinis he’d starve to death.”
Milton Berle

”I had never tasted anything so cool and clean. They made me feel civilized.”
Gerald Ford