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When is a Martini NOT a Martini?
The Ever Classic Martini
I admit it, I am a martini snob. I hate it when I go to a bar or restaurant and see a "Martini Bar" or "Martini Menu". It seems everyone has forgotten what a martini is, and they pass off any drink in a cocktail glass, commonly incorrectly identified as a martini glass, as some fancy martini. I can't recall the number of times I have seen a so called Martini Menu that didn't have a single martini on the menu. Loads of Chocolate Martinis and Mellon Martinis and all sorts of sweet sounding cocktails, and heck I even like a few of those so called martini's, but those are not martinis. I thought it high time I stop boring my friends with my rants about martinis and wrote an article on the subject.
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Prep Time
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 oz | |
| Calories | 0 |
| Calories from Fat | 0 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 0 g | |
| Saturated fat 0 g | |
| Unsaturated fat 0 g | |
| Carbohydrates 0 g | |
| Sugar 0 g | |
| Fiber 0 g | |
| Protein 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 0 mg | |
| Sodium 1 mg | |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Ingredients
- 3 oz Gin
- 1 oz Dry Vermouth
- 1 (or more) olive
- Ice
Types of Martinis
- Stirred Martini; Fill a lowball glass up with crushed or cubed ice, put olive in the glass, pour gin and vermouth into the glass. stir and serve
- Shaken Martini;fill a cocktail shaker up with ice pour gin and vermouth into the shaker,put strainer and lid on the shaker and shake well, put olive in the bottom of a cocktail glass, leaving the strainer in place pour the liquid into the cocktail glass and serve
- Dirty Martini; If you wish to "dirty it up" add a splash of the brine from the olives to the mix, but please just a splash. I was at a restaurant recently and ordered a martini, they waitress asked if I would like it dirty and I answered yes, what she brought me back was a cocktail glass full of olive brine with a splash of vodka and vermouth, revolting.
- Vodka Martini; Replace gin with Vodka and you have a Vodka Martini
- Sweet Martini; cut gin to one part, and replace dry vermouth with sweet vermouth
When is a Martini Glass NOT a Martini Glass
Other Martini Variants
There ARE no other variants
That’s it, those are martinis, everything else is a cocktail not a martini.
Oh ok, you can vary it up a bit, the recipe above is a very dry martini. You alter the “wetness” by cutting down on the gin(or vodka). You can alter the sweetness by doing half and half sweet and dry vermouth to produce a medium martini. You can even vary the garnish some, I personally don’t like the lemon twist or much else other than the olive, but I’d be willing to allow a martini with a twist still a martini.
So I guess there are a few other variants, but add any fruit juice or other such abominations and it is no longer a martini, plain and simple. I am even going out on a limb allowing vodka martinis the name, because really a martini is gin and vermouth vodka is a later variant that properly should be identified as a “Vodka Martini” vs just a martini, and many purists won’t even allow that.
© 2014 Jeff Johnston
