As I'm sure you've noticed there are so many martini variations it can all be a
little bit daunting, especially if you're at a crowded bar and you don't want to
end up spending all of your money on a drink that you don't really fancy.
So while it's just you and me here I'm gonna unpack a little bit of the mystery of
the martini and help you choose what's your favorite. I'm also going to run you
through some tips and tricks and let you know what spirits I choose to give your
martini the best flavor and texture possible.
To be honest making a great martini is easy,
the key word is cold. The easiest way to achieve this is to keep
your spirit, serving glass and mixing glass in the freezer. This just helps
take away the harshness of the alcohol, if you don't believe me try a shot of gin
from the freezer you won't even notice it go down.
if everything is really cold
then you won't end up over diluting your
martini and it will have a lovely oily and viscous texture.
If you can't don't stress,
just stir your martini on the best ice that you can find, that way you
can control the dilution and make sure that you stir it for long enough that
it's icy cold. And yes, I did say stir, we're gonna leave the shaking to James Bond
because it's not going to give us the silky smooth texture that we're looking for.
Maybe he had enough of that himself?
As with all cocktails you want to choose
base spirits that are gonna give you the flavours that you're looking for in the
cocktail itself. The martini is so simple it is easy to see this in action and of
course you're gonna need really good quality ingredients.
First let's put olives in something savory,
a dry martini. Later will put a twist in something citrusy,
a wet martini.
For our dry martini we're using gin.
Tanqueray and Plymouth's gin suit both wet and dry martinis as does Grey Goose if you
prefer vodka, and they're all available most places in the world, but for my gin
martini I can't go past Gin Mare. This Spanish gin is made in a little
fishing village on the Mediterranean and heroes at the local Arbequina olive or
Arbequina, if you know how to say that please do let me know. It also uses a lot
of other Mediterranean herbs like thyme and rosemary and basil so it's basically
a pizza in a bottle. Just kidding, but with so many herbal and savory notes
I don't actually really think it needs the addition of
olive brine and it would probably drown out some of the lighter citrusy notes that
are really gonna bring this martini to life. When it comes to your vermouth just
make sure that it is fresh. Once you've opened a bottle of vermouth it should be
refrigerated and only lasts for about a month. A lot of brands will do little
half bottles which are perfect for making martinis at home, but we're really
highlighting the gin in our dry martini so I've gone for Dolan Dry. It's a bit
lighter in body and has really nice herbal and citrus notes. It's made with
fresh ingredients and good quality wine which means it's going to do a really
good job of supporting the Gin Mare without overshadowing it. As with all
martinis it comes down to personal preference,
the ratio of gin to vermouth here is 12 to 1 but some people like it as dry as
25 to 1 or even just popping a little bit of vermouth in your mixing glass
stirring it around with ice and then straining it back out again. You just
have to try a few ways to figure out what you like. So you need 5 mils of your
Dolan Dry vermouth chilled. Don't put this one in the freezer because the
alcohol content isn't high enough, so it will actually freeze, but still as cold
as you can get it in the fridge.
And 60 mils of our icy Gin Mare straight from the freezer.
Now when it comes to the olives, bartender lore dictates that you
should only garnish in uneven numbers so either a 1 olive or 3 olives. If you only
get two olives it could be that the bartender doesn't like you very much?
I've gone for anchovy stuffed olives because they're my favorite but
obviously any kind of olives that you like. Fill your mixing glass with as much ice
as possible and then stir it by putting the back of your bar spoon
against the inside of the mixing glass and pushing the ice around. Obviously
this is basically pure gin it does need a fair amount of dilution but just keep
testing it as you're stirring if you're not sure until you hit the sweet spot
where you don't have any of that harsh alcohol taste.
Perfect. Grab your icy martini glass, pop your
julep strainer in to hold the ice back and pour.
Don't forget the best bit.
A classic dry gin martini with olives.
So now you know.
As I mentioned martinis are really all about
the texture and Ketel One Vodka is partially distilled on
copper pot stills, which gives it a lovely texture and flavour on the palate,
unlike a lot of other vodkas which are much lighter in body because they're
distilled on column stills, to briefly summarize a massive topic.
It also has lovely honey and citrus notes which will work really well in our
wet martini with a twist. Just make sure it's icy cold.
While you can have your choice of vermouth I really love using local products and
this Regal Rogue Lively White vermouth is no exception. Really bringing the
vermouth out of the background here so it's good to go for something with a bit
of character. Australia has long been known for its wine and producers are now
starting to have a little bit of fun with vermouth as well, so this one is
made from really aromatic semillon grapes and they use native botanicals
like lemon myrtle and finger lime as well as caramel and grapefruit so it's
gonna give us a really citrusy and fragrant punch, which is quite different
from the savory and dry martini that we made earlier. It's also what's called a
Bianco vermouth, so it is still white but has a little bit more sugar in there
than the drier vermouth which will just round out this cocktail really nicely.
So in this drink we're gonna use a grapefruit twist which plays really well
with both the vermouth and the vodka that we've chosen. Look for a grapefruit
with nice skin that you're gonna get a lot of oils off. In this one in a martini
glass you do want the twist is be a little bit more decorative so I tend to
trim it down once I've cut it off into a little triangle shape, so that you can
drape it over the side of the glass. So we want two dashes of orange bitters,
it's just gonna help with the floral aspect of this cocktail
and lengthen out, and it was a traditional way to do it after all.
Then were going for 20 mils of our Regal Rogue Lively White vermouth. 40 mils of
our ice-cold Ketel One Vodka. Add as much ice to the mixing glass as you can fit
in there and give it a stir. Remember that because this has more
vermouth in it to begin with you won't need to stir it for quite as
long as it doesn't need as much dilution. Give it a little taste.
My favourite.
And pour it into your chilled glass.
To finish grab your a grapefruit twist, hold it with the skin out and give it a sharp fold
over the top of your cocktail so that it expresses all of its lovely
aromatic oils, roll it round and hook it on the edge of the glass.
A wet vodka martini.
So now you know.
So which do you prefer? Wet or dry?
It's all down to personal taste
and what you feel like on the day
but hopefully you've learnt enough
to have an experiment for yourself.
So now you know and it's over to you
but have you ever wondered where the martini comes from? If so check out
this video or if you're still unsure how to order a martini and want to do it
like a boss then have a look at this one. Thank you very much for watching and
don't forget to subscribe.