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).
Let’s start off with a quote, shall we?
“It has come to my attention that some people believe a martini can be made with vodka instead of gin. While it is true that you can follow the above recipe, substituting vodka for gin, and produce a liquid that some people will drink, believe me, it is not a martini, not no way, not no how. It is a concoction suitable only for those who have no soul and less guts.” #
Well, there’s a time to have a soul and guts and there’s a time to just have leave those behind. Especially when you’re bound to the rules of scientific experimentation and general awesomeness. So here’s the latest Martini:
Yes, that is a Vodka bottle, and a cheap one too.
I prepared the Martini as I had done with the first one, but instead of Gin, I used 4 parts of Vodka. Instead of an olive, a lemon was cut up and a wedge put into the chilled glass before pouring.
The bitter flavour Gin adds to a Martini is of course not present in a Vodka Martini. Instead, it just tastes a lot like Alcohol with a tad of lemon.
Not my favourite Martini, but the girlfriend liked it. Reason enough to consider making it again, even though, by any standards, it’s not a real Martini.
And as promised, here’s the recount of sweet Vermouth Martini preparation.
I used the Martini&Rossi Bianco, which I think is the sweetest one you can get. The ratio was 4 parts Gin to 2 parts Vermouth, which is the ratio recommended on the Noilly Prat bottle, only that they of course talk about dry and not sweet Vermouth.
My co-conspirator/girlfriend was much happier with this mixture. I, unfortunately, wasn’t. I think I just like the bitterness that comes with the rather dry version we had the first time. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t feel like a real Martini creator, considering that any Vermouth less dry than Sahara desert is deemed ill-suited for a real Martini. I know, this sounds snobbish, but frankly, once you’ve gone out and bought Martini glasses, you’re well beyond caring about being called a snob.
The next part will see a special way of preparation as detailed in this little article on the perfect Martini, and let me tell you, it’s not for the faint of heart. But more next time.
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