Martinis Are Good Year Round

Even though it's the dead of winter, the cold weather doesn't dampen my enthusiasm or desire for a good martini...so let's look at how to make a martini that will be even better than your local barkeeper can make.

While today it is very trendy to create all sorts of specialty drinks, serve them up in a martini glass and give them evocative names like the Chocotini, Appletini or Berrytini, these drinks are not true martinis.

So what are the key elements to making the perfect martini?
It boils down to only three basic things:
--- Quality of the ingredients
--- Temperature
--- Garnish

A classic martini has only two, or at most three, ingredients: the base liquor (either gin or vodka), dry vermouth and possibly olive brine if it’s a dirty martini. In selecting the bottle of gin or vodka, you need to remember that you will essentially be drinking it straight up, without anything to substantially alter its taste. Therefore, a premium or top shelf quality liquor is required. This doesn’t mean you need to buy the priciest brands at the store. Market price takes into account perception of quality, so only you as a consumer can determine what makes your mouth happy.
You really can’t go wrong with Skyy, Stolichnaya, Absolut or the higher priced Ketel One and Grey Goose for vodka or Beefeater, Tanqueray or the super-premium Bombay Sapphire and Mercury London Dry for gin drinkers. For the dry vermouth, there typically is not a tremendous amount of selection, but don’t purchase a cheap off-brand. Stick with Martini & Rossi or Cinzano or other comparably priced brands.

So now, we’ve got our selected tasty ingredients on hand. One of the biggest problems I find when ordering a martini in a bar is that it is served too warm. For a martini to be crisp, clean, knock-your-socks-off great, it has to be very cold.
To easily do this, start off by putting the martini glasses in a freezer, or if one isn’t available, then fill them with ice and a little water and set aside.

I always like to get a head start on chilling the ingredients by keeping the vodka/gin in the freezer (don’t worry it won’t freeze) and the vermouth in the fridge. Grab those and fill your shaker up about 1/3 to 1/2 way full of ice. Make sure you are using good clean ice because any impurities will spoil the taste of the martini. Pour 2 to 2 1/2 ounces of vodka/gin into the shaker and top off with a splash of dry vermouth. There are a lot of different ideas of how to mix in the vermouth, but I find this simple approach works quite well. If you want a dirty martini, add a splash of olive brine, too.

Now start shaking vigorously. Harder! Keep shaking non-stop for about 20 seconds or until ice is forming on the outside of the shaker. If you fingers are going numb you’re there!
Get your glass (dumping the ice and water out) and strain the martini into it. If you’ve shaken it enough there will be small pieces of shaved ice floating on the surface. That’s the indication that it’s been done properly.
Now just garnish with an olive, pearl onion or your choice of fresh citrus zest. The zest twist shouldn’t have any pith, and the aromatic oils will enhance the drink presentation, just as the toothpicked olive or onion do.

So that’s it. You’ve got a wonderful refreshing martini ready to drink – so get to it!

Cheers!