With the advent of the Bombay Sapphire Gin, I also introduced a new way of chilling the Martini glasses to perfection:
I looked up that technique from a pro barkeeper demonstrating the preparation of a Martini Dry on the Bombay Sapphire website itself. Unfortunately I can’t link to the exact page, mainly because some weird law forces commercial websites featuring alcohol or tobacco to verify the visitors’ age. Which is done by entering your birth-date. It’s a fool-proof system really.
Now, here’s the important bit: did the Martini actually taste better that way? Well, technically, it didn’t. But drinking a Martini is a lot, A LOT about the manner of preparation. The drink itself? Not that important. Which means, the more elaborate the method of preparation, the better the drink. And in that light, yes, the taste was fantastic!
And here we are, part ten of my, I dare say, infamous Martini Chronicles.
As with all anniversaries, something special and exciting was in order, and well, here it is:
Yes, it’s the famous Bombay Sapphire Gin, recommended to me by Max in a comment to the very first installment. Now, since it was my first taste of Bombay Gin, I decided to prepare a classic 2:1 mix, for no other ingredient than Vermouth should diminish the sensation of this Gin of Gins. And while I can’t say I tasted each and every ingredient written out in detail on the Gin’s bottle, I did taste the difference to the rather cheap Gin I had used for all the previous Martinis.
And as proof that all that alcohol is not dulling our senses the slightest bit, my girlfriend noticed that the good people at the Bombay Sapphire Gin factory fucked up the spelling of their most important ingredient, right there on the bottle:
How’s that for fantastic?
Come back tomorrow when I’ll post the results of a revolutionary new chilling technique for our Martini glasses!
As you may have gathered from above image, I’ve now finally come around to producing a Gibson. According to Wikipedia, the origin of the Gibson is still disputed. It is most likely that it was named after Charles Dana Gibson, the American graphic artist we all of course know and love. Rumour has it that Gibson challenged a barkeeper to improve on the Martini recipe. Which he did by substituting the olive with the pickled onion.
Whatever the real origin of the drink is, I’ve noted that the taste of the pickled onion really changes the tone of the drink. At first it tasted like any ordinary Martini, but after a while, the sweet pickled onion turned it into a bitter-sweet symphony (ha, I still can’t get over the fact how awesome I am).
I won’t go as far as to say that this is the best of the Martini variants I’ve had so far, but it’s definitely a contender.
By the way, I’ve read up on a few of the rather obscure Martini variants, and you may actually see something exotic like a Saketini for my next installment (being the tenth one and all that).
And here’s part eight of your most favourite recurring feature on any blog you’ve ever read!
This time with a very special creation, created and conceived by none other than myself: A Perfect Vodka Martini! Having finally mastered the art of not caring whether it’s a real Martini by anyone’s standards, I’ve now embraced the Vodka Martini as a real Martini too. It just opens up that window of opportunities a bit wider for a Martini-adventurer like myself.
So the Perfect Vodka Martini was prepared exactly like the original Perfect Martini, only that instead of Gin, I used, well, Vodka.
And here’s another difference: instead of Noilly Prat, I used Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth*. It’s not the Vermouth of choice for total Martini snobs, but for someone like me, who values variety, it’s a welcome change.
At least to my girlfriend and me, the result was quite an agreeable concoction. Will drink again!
*Having brought my 2/3 full bottle of Noilly Prat to the Tupalo bash on Friday, I was forced to improvise, as my ordinary grocer doesn’t stock that finest of Vermouths. But I’ve heard, that some people prefer the Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth anyway. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, considering that Martini & Rossi actually own the Noilly Prat brand.
And in rapid succession, here comes the latest installment of the Martini Chronicles. On a whim, I decided yesterday to create a 50-50 Martini, but with a twist. A Vodka twist! That’s right, I made a Vodka Martini, with three parts Vodka and three parts dry Vermouth.
Glasses of course were chilled to perfection, and the lemon wedge was big. I think I like the Vodka Martini more and more, but always with the caveat that it isn’t of course a real Martini.
Nevertheless, I’ll try to fill up a small bottle of Vermouth tonight, so that I may be able to have a Vodka Martini at the Tupalo bash (which, according to the invitation, is sponsored by Absolut Vodka). I do hope they have lemons too.
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