martinis (and vermouth)


Ken Gargett

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doing a piece on martinis shortly and it occurred to me that we no doubt have many keen martini drinkers with us and it would be worth getting a few thoughts. 

do you drink them? how do you make the best ones? variations? gin or vodka (let me tell you right now that there is nothing wrong with a vodka cocktail but martinis are made with gin, not vodka)? what sort of vermouth? percentages? garnishes? olives, lemon twists? 

any other thoughts. 

i come from an era where the first duty of a martini was to be as bone dry as possible - all the old jokes about placing a bottle of vermouth near the gin being sufficient or allowing shafts of sunlight to traverse the bottle of vermouth and shine onto the bottle of gin. i think we have come a long way since then. 

i have taken myself away for a week to the coast to try and catch up on a heap of deadlines. i did pack a few gins and olives and lemons etc, but realised i needed to pick up a bottle of vermouth. was doing some shopping on the way at the markets at inala (brizzy locals will know it). so ducked into the local bottleshop and asked for a bottle of vermouth.

"nah mate, we don't stock that sort of thing". inala has great markets but is perhaps a few years away from rivalling manhattan or london or paris as a centre of sophistication. 

i looked around and told our friendly store manager that i would just have to make do with this bottle of cinzano extra dry then. he looked at it like i had just discovered a bottle of frogs with three heads. i may be the first person to buy such an item in the history of inala. 

anyway, thoughts on which vermouths also welcome. 

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I’m a big martini fan. My two current favorites, mood dependent, are as follows:

Monkey 47 Gin (2oz), Ransom Dry Vermouth (.5oz), dash of orange bitters and a twist of orange

Botanist gin (2oz), Dolin Dry (.25oz), Dolin Blanc (.25oz), twist of lemon

To me the first is a great “modern” martini with a med+ body and a lot of sweet citrus. The second a more classic profile, fairly “dry” tasting and a great way to start a big meal.

 

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I have tried a number of vermouths and for me, there is only one...Noilly Prat Original.

I used to have my Martinis wetter using a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio. These days I've settled on a 1:6 ratio.

The Gin I tend to use is Bombay's Sapphire or Tanqueray.

I always use Orange Bitters as per the traditional recipe. I use Regans' No.6.

My garnish can vary. Mostly I squeeze a few drops of lemon peel over the drink and then drop in the peel. Other times I use olives or white onions. When I use white onions I suppose the Martini technically becomes a Gibson Cocktail.

My preparation uses a lot of ice to get the Martini cold but I never, ever shake...only stir.

We must remember that the James Bond martini, which has become colloquially famous in the ensuing years, started as a marketing tie-in for Smirnoff Vodka.

noilly-prat-original-dry-noml.jpg.428aadfa5ca878617040b85f9f422a5b.jpg

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Looking forward to the article Ken. I like a dirty martini but I never seem to get the mix right for a dirty or a regular lemon twist. I like dry Gordon's but have tried Four Pillars. if ordering would probably choose Tanqueray. I have Dolin and Moilly Prat and Crawley's Olive Brine. never tried orange bitters. Think I might be going too heavy on the Vermouth with two shots Gin and half shot Vermouth and a teaspoon olive brine. Vermouth could also be off. Been on the shelf for a while, heat affected. Does it need to be refrigerated?

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bill, anything stale will stuff things badly. 

i'm not a big vermouth guy - from that era - but i think that the great martini is always a work in progress. just keep practicing. 

so that would be a yes for me on the refrigeration. at least if you are planning on keeping it for any length of time. 

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I usually go with a 5:1 ratio, sometimes make it a dirty Martini with 15ml Olive brine, occasionally a perfect Martini where I like to use Martini Riserva Speciale Ambrato. I always go Olive garnish, it just works, can't stand a lemon twist for some reason. Dry Vermouth is always Dolin. Gin can be anything as I usually rotate different gins. My best classic gin is No 3 London Dry. I recently picked up the Four Pillars Olive Leaf, which is a great cocktail gin in general, but makes a really cracking Martini (with an olive, not lemon like they recommend).

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1 hour ago, potpest said:

I usually go with a 5:1 ratio, sometimes make it a dirty Martini with 15ml Olive brine, occasionally a perfect Martini where I like to use Martini Riserva Speciale Ambrato. I always go Olive garnish, it just works, can't stand a lemon twist for some reason. Dry Vermouth is always Dolin. Gin can be anything as I usually rotate different gins. My best classic gin is No 3 London Dry. I recently picked up the Four Pillars Olive Leaf, which is a great cocktail gin in general, but makes a really cracking Martini (with an olive, not lemon like they recommend).

big fan of the four P olive leaf as well. 

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20 hours ago, Bill Hayes said:

Vermouth could also be off. Been on the shelf for a while, heat affected. Does it need to be refrigerated?

 

20 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

 so that would be a yes for me on the refrigeration.

Definitely yes on refrigerating Vermouth once it is opened.

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Read about an interesting martini in Dale DeGroffs book. It's a martini favoured by Joe Drake, who founded and owned the Bel - Air hotel, called the Valencia Martini.

Recipe is:
1/2 Oz Fino La Ina Sherry
2 1/2 Oz Gin
2 Flamed Orange Zest Coins

Rinse the glass with sherry and pour the remaining into a mixing glass.
Add Gin, ice and stir
Flame one orange coin and discard and flame and garnish the drink with the 2nd Coin.

Works well, definitely adding this to my rotation.

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Sent from my SM-G770F using Tapatalk
 

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14 hours ago, potpest said:

Read about an interesting martini in Dale DeGroffs book. It's a martini favoured by Joe Drake, who founded and owned the Bel - Air hotel, called the Valencia Martini.

Recipe is:
1/2 Oz Fino La Ina Sherry
2 1/2 Oz Gin
2 Flamed Orange Zest Coins

Rinse the glass with sherry and pour the remaining into a mixing glass.
Add Gin, ice and stir
Flame one orange coin and discard and flame and garnish the drink with the 2nd Coin.

Works well, definitely adding this to my rotation.

different but fascinating. thanks. 

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  • 1 month later...

Just a heads up, I see your friends at Four Pillars have brought out a RTD bottled Martini @Ken Gargett. Looks pretty good and interesting. I bought one. Should get a few drinks out of it. Can be drank with an olive in it or a twist of lemon skin. I'll report back. Cheers.

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1 hour ago, Bill Hayes said:

Just a heads up, I see your friends at Four Pillars have brought out a RTD bottled Martini @Ken Gargett. Looks pretty good and interesting. I bought one. Should get a few drinks out of it. Can be drank with an olive in it or a twist of lemon skin. I'll report back. Cheers.

bill, they have a really impressive announcement out very shortly. under embargo but it is good stuff. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks @Ken Gargett. I am on their email list and I saw they won a very impressive award at the World Spirits Awards for Most Sustainable 'Green' distillery. A great achievement as best in the world. Makes me proud that they are local and want to support them on that. I have no affiliation, just appreciate their efforts. I finally tried the bottled Martini with local ingredients and their twist on a Martini. First impression is that it is very smooth and complex and great with a green olive to pick up on their olive gin queues. Although, found it a tad too delicious and dangerously drinkable. ha ha! I might try again with a little touch of my own and add a half shot of London dry gin to two shots of the Martini to give it an extra kick. Great on some of the sunny afternoons we've had down south this spring. Cheers. Here's shameless self promotion narcissistic shot of me enjoying one out of a Belgium beer glass because I don't have a martini glass ATM.  Classic mid life crisis 101. Ha ha!

IMG_9261.jpg

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24 minutes ago, Bill Hayes said:

Thanks @Ken Gargett. I am on their email list and I saw they won a very impressive award at the World Spirits Awards for Most Sustainable 'Green' distillery. A great achievement as best in the world. Makes me proud that they are local and want to support them on that. I have no affiliation, just appreciate their efforts. I finally tried the bottled Martini with local ingredients and their twist on a Martini. First impression is that it is very smooth and complex and great with a green olive to pick up on their olive gin queues. Although, found it a tad too delicious and dangerously drinkable. ha ha! I might try again with a little touch of my own and add a half shot of London dry gin to two shots of the Martini to give it an extra kick. Great on some of the sunny afternoons we've had down south this spring. Cheers. Here's shameless self promotion narcissistic shot of me enjoying one out of a Belgium beer glass because I don't have a martini glass ATM.  Classic mid life crisis 101. Ha ha!

i think co-founder stu gregor is still catatonic from the AFL grand final. huge swans fan. he will be gutted still. not a great year - stu is also a waratah, nsw origin, man u, roosters and wallabies fan. not many winners there! mind you, i'm not doing much better. 

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Ha ha, yeah, my mob got done by your mob with a last kick of the game. With our injury to our best mid during the game, we wouldn't have troubled the Cats in the GF so it's good to go out early feeling hard done by. Gives hope for the following year instead of being demolished and carrying that with you during the following year. Tigers have traded well and will be thereabouts again next year. Will be interesting to see how Brissie goes after the controversy with the coach etc. Still be hard to beat at the GABBA though. Might unify them. Cheers.

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Just now, Bill Hayes said:

Ha ha, yeah, my mob got done by your mob with a last kick of the game. With our injury to our best mid during the game, we wouldn't have troubled the Cats in the GF so it's good to go out early feeling hard done by. Gives hope for the following year instead of being demolished and carrying that with you during the following year. Tigers have traded well and will be thereabouts again next year. Will be interesting to see how Brissie goes after the controversy with the coach etc. Still be hard to beat at the GABBA though. Might unify them. Cheers.

yes, a strange season. we were very good for most of it, then fell in a heap. somehow got it together when finals arrived and got done by the cats (not as badly as the swannies in the final, though). was surprised demons faded as they did. 

next year will be interesting. i know the lions want dunkley, ashcroft and fletcher. but how you get them all with the picks we have, no idea. dunkley wants to come and would be a big plus. gunston seems locked in with little cost. to have the chance to jump up and take the top prospect, especially one apparently so good, through father and son, is a bonus. gather young ashcroft is way better than his father, and dad played 300 plus games. long way to go, though. don't know much about fletcher but they say he is a pick for around 25-28 so presumably pretty good. might go higher. 

the coaching thing is a wild card. one mate, who normally has good info via the dons, tells me that there was nothing racist in the treatment but rather, that was how they treated everyone. not sure that makes it better. if true, who knows what will happen.

but that said, what sort of system conducts an inquiry and then comes out with assertions that will destroy the lives of a couple of highly respected coaches and does so without even speaking to these guys. not giving them any chance to answer or defend themselves before publication. and the AFL refused to show them a copy. if i am fagan or clarkson, i have my KC screaming denial of natural justice and suing the AFL. i would have also instigated defamation proceedings against the journo. much more to come out though. 

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Love me a Martini and I like them wet. I never quite understood the bone dry approach, at that point it’s just a glass of gin with a garnish. I think the bone dry craze might have stemmed from people not understanding vermouth and the fact it oxidizes and goes off. At that point a glass of gin would taste better indeed.

Vermouth is a very interesting thing and I like to taste it. That’s why my ratio is 1:4, I find that this is my preferred balance between the botanicals of the gin and the herbaceous components of the vermouth. If I go 5 or 6 parts gin, the herbal flavor is too toned down for me.

My preferred gins:

Tanqueray

Bombay Sapphire

Gordon’s 

Roku (try this, it’s from Suntory Distillery, quite citrus forward and very excellent)

My preferred vermouths:

Noilly Prat

Martini Extra Dry and/or Bianco

Dolin Blanc and/or Dry

I am partial to citrus, so usually 3 dashes of orange bitters and express some lemon oil, then garnish with a lemon twist.

 

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  • 1 month later...

My favorite drink!

I'm not too particular on the vermouth, since I only think about using some. A Martini is just a fancy name to justify drinking straight alcohol. Works for me.

My gin of choice is always Boodles. Its strong on Juniper. 

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