Hey, everybody.
It's John.
So, for today's cocktail,
I'm going to teach you three things
every bartender should know how to do.
First thing, is how to chill your glasses,
it's very simple.
When you start making your drink put ice in your glass
and then you can put a little bit of water in there too.
And then by the time you mix your drink
your glasses will be nice and chilled.
You can also put them in the fridge
and keep them there but...
Or in the freezer rather.
That's a really quick fix.
The second thing I'm going to teach you
is how to make a proper pre-prohibition martini.
And the third thing I'm going to teach you
is when to stir and when to shake a drink.
So, when you think about a martini today,
you think of like five or six ounces of really cold vodka
and a big cocktail glass with like three olives in it.
That was not the original martini.
The original martini was a small little delicate drink,
it had two ounces of gin,
three quarters of an ounce of dry vermouth
and a secret ingredient called orange bitters,
which you can get pretty much anywhere on the internet
or at your local specialty cocktail or wine store.
So, this is what we are doing here.
Well, that's fascinating, hun,
because most people when they say they want a dry martini
they just kiss it with--
Right.
White vermouth.
White vermouth of course is fortified wine with aromatics.
And you should keep this in the cooler
after you open it by the bung.
Yes, it's wine.
It means we won't keep it on their bar,
you should keep it in the cooler,
on your wine cooler on your fridge after you open it.
But I find that fascinating, the amounts here
because that's not what we have come to know
from James Bond movies.
Right.
From modern cocktail making and even the size.
You know, when about cocktails from when our parents,
when our folks were young,
they were literally this size,
they were few ounces, they weren't this big giant drinks.
Right, it was just supposed to be
a little something you had, you sipped on before dinner.
Sipped?
Yeah.
Not drank.
Not guzzle.
(laughing)
So now, a martini is a,
no offense to James Bond,
a cocktail that should be stirred and not shaken.
And the reason for that--
Not to bruise the gin.
Yes.
Well, if you have any cloudy ingredients in your cocktail
you can shake it
because shaking it is going to chill it more quickly
and is also going to cloud it up
because you've got bubbles and shaking
and all that going on.
If all of your ingredients are clear like in this,
and clear doesn't have to be like clear, literally clear.
A Manhattan is another cocktail of all clear ingredients
even though they are brown.
But what you want to do is chill the drink
but not have it be all foamy and bubbly,
you want it to be nice and crystal clear
and beautiful in the glass.
So, that's why we stir.
What is the bruising gin thing about?
I think it's just another way of saying if you shake it--
Making it cloud.
You're going to make it cloudy--
Gotcha.
Instead of nice and clear.
And you want it to look like a little jewel in the glass.
And I just dropped that on the ground.
What is it with you?
Whenever you make cocktails, honey,
you fill things all around the room.
Yeah.
Did you throw ice on the floor?
No, I just threw this on the floor,
can you get me another one?
Yes, babe.
Thank you, honey.
So, the other thing about a martini is--
Here you go,
here is a clean one.
Perfect.
Okay.
Is the garnish.
Back in the day pre-prohibition was actually a lemon twist,
not an olive.
So that's what we are going to garnish with now.
And I'm going to show you how to do it.
You can get one of this things,
it's called the channel knife
and those are really handy,
you just kind of zip it around the skin of your citrus
and it goes right in the glass.
Or you can just use a regular ordinary vegetable peeler
and peel off some of your skin.
And then take it skin side down
and twist it all over the glass.
You can see the oil is expressed right into the drink
and just drop it in.
Wow, that's beautiful.
Thank you.
Here is your little delicate cocktail.
Cheers.
I should not be holding this glass.
Cheers everybody.
I am infamous for breaking glasses that...
My sister gave us these, they are antiques.
I'm never allowed to touch these.
I think it's just for this special occasion
of making a television show.
And look how it's not bubbly,
it's just nice and clear.
And look how tiny it is.
See, this is a proper cocktail.