Martini aficionados What’s your favorite mix??

[Chili 18]

Ok ok, Ill start...

Here’s my current favorite:
Start with your favorite martini glass… Fill it with crushed ice to chill.
For the gin, Its Bombay Sapphire. About 5-6 oz
Preferably a tall metal shaker filled with filtered cubes. The metal helps break the cubes and make those frosty little ice slivers.
A few drops of dry vermouth, or simply wave the bottle over the shaker for effect…
Shake shake shake (like the KC and the sunshine band song)

Have your salad already prepared. My standard is Tassos olives in sea brine hand stuffed with premium blue cheese. (Better than it may sound) DO NOT use the pre made stuffed olives. Please.


Empty glass of crushed ice, insert salad, strain frosty libation into frozen glass. Have a wonderful evening!

Whats your favorite Martini?

[Schnook]

Grey Goose Dirty Martini
Chill glass as before
3 shots Grey Goose (Belvedere works, too)
1 shot olive juice - or to taste
1 spray of vermouth into glass
if you don't have a sprayer, swish a little around
and dump it.
shake until shaker is frosted (smile at comment about your butt moving)
Blue cheese olives as before, wife prefers pimento
Voila!
Remember what Frank Sinatra said about olives;
"Always two olives - one for you,
one for the beautiful woman you're sharing a drink with."

[mattyboy]

Martini's are well how should i say this, they are a cover, a sham, everyone always says just wave the vermouth over the shaker if you want drink staright gin or vodka just order it that way, are they embarrased of what they drink why not just take the chilled bottle of gin or vodka from the freezer pour into you favorite glass and enjoy, and the hole garnish thing the olives or onions on a sword, fruit slices, little umbrellas please give me a break
is it mandatory to drink with your pinky out ???

;)

[Schnook]

Martini's are well how should i say this, they are a cover, a sham, everyone always says just wave the vermouth over the shaker if you want drink staright gin or vodka just order it that way, are they embarrased of what they drink why not just take the chilled bottle of gin or vodka from the freezer pour into you favorite glass and enjoy, and the hole garnish thing the olives or onions on a sword, fruit slices, little umbrellas please give me a break
is it mandatory to drink with your pinky out ???
;)
only if you pour straight from the bottle to the glass!

[Marlin275]

In blind taste tests Beefeater Gin scored the highest for flavor and bouquet.
In the same Vodka testing Smirnoff was the highest rated.
Yea go ahead and laugh but the test proved it was best, the rest is marketing and snob appeal.
Don't waste your money on the high priced stuff, get a better Donzi instead.

A Humble Old Label Ices Its Rivals
In vodkas, higher-priced and better-dressed isn’t always better, a panel discovers.
It was not exactly a victory for the underdog, but chalk it up as a triumph of the unexpected.
The idea for the Dining section’s tasting panel was to sample a range of the new highend unflavored vodkas that have come on the market in the last few years in their beautifully designed bottles and to compare them with a selection of established super-premium brands. To broaden the comparison, or possibly as a bit of mischief, our tasting coordinator, Bernard Kirsch, added to our blind tasting a bottle of Smirnoff, the single bestselling unflavored vodka in the United States, but a definite step down in status, marketing and bottle design.

After the 21 vodkas were sipped and the results compiled, the Smirnoff was our handsdown favorite.

Shocking? Perhaps. Delving into the world of vodka reveals a spirit unlike almost any other, with standards that make judging it substantially different from evaluating wine, beer, whiskey or even root beer. A malt whiskey should be distinctive, singular. The same goes for a Burgundy or a Belgian ale. But vodka? Vodka is measured by its purity, by an almost Platonic neutrality that makes tasting it more akin to tasting bottled waters, or snowflakes.

Yet in just a few decades vodka has become the most popular spirit in the country. It is now the default liquor in cocktails once made with gin, and with its glossy merchandising it has set a marketing standard for high-end spirits that the other liquors are all struggling to emulate. It’s quite an achievement for something that the government defines as “neutral spirits, so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without distinctive character, aroma, taste or color.”

A lack of distinctiveness is a separate matter from a lack of distinction. The vodkas we tasted had character and their own flavors and aromas, even though the differences among them were often subtle and difficult to articulate.

“I’m looking for interest,” said Eben Klemm, a cocktail expert who joined me for the tasting, along with my colleagues Florence Fabricant and William L. Hamilton, who writes the Shaken and Stirred column for the Sunday Styles section. “Some were so unique that they stood out,” he added, “while others were pure, simple and austere.”

Mr. Klemm, whose heady title is director of cocktail development for B. R. Guest, a restaurant group that includes Dos Caminos, Fiamma and Vento in New York, found himself torn in two directions in assessing the vodkas. Because we tasted them straight, he judged them as solo beverages yet could not help extrapolating how they would taste in cocktails, which are overwhelmingly the vehicle for consuming vodka.

Mr. Hamilton, too, wondered whether his perceptions might change. “When deployed in mixed drinks, these slight flavor profiles that I enjoyed might cause trouble,” he said.

Ms. Fabricant, on the other hand, dismissed such existential issues. “Go with the flow,” she suggested, adding that the qualities she sought in the vodkas included elegance, neutrality and balance. “As a vodka drinker who likes vodka on the rocks, I picked out what I would want to drink,” she said.

I’m not much of a vodka drinker myself, although I do like a good bloody mary. I prefer gin in classic gin drinks like martinis and gimlets that have largely evolved into vodka cocktails. But I appreciate the purity and depth of a fine vodka. Those I liked best were all smooth rather than harsh, and balanced and harmonious rather than burdened by alcoholic heat. They had a presence in the mouth that we sometimes referred to as texture or substance.

That being said, at the end of our tasting it was Smirnoff at the top of our list, ahead of many other names that are no doubt of higher status in stylish bars and lounges. Some of those names did not even make our Top 10. Grey Goose from France, one of the most popular vodkas, was felt to lack balance and seemed to have more than a touch of sweetness. Ketel One from the Netherlands, another top name, was felt to be routine and sharp, although Mr. Klemm did describe it as “a good mixer.”

More than 300 vodkas are on the market now, and of course we could not taste them all. Notable brands that we omitted included Chopin, Finlandia, Rain and Tanqueray Sterling. But our tasting included 5 of the 10 best-selling unflavored vodkas in the United States and the 5 best-selling imported vodkas.

What set Smirnoff apart, we agreed, was its aromas and flavors, which we described as classic. Smirnoff of course has a long history. The company was founded in Russia in the 19th century, and after the Russian Revolution the family, then spelling its name Smirnov, left the country and eventually ended up in France. The brand, now owned by Diageo, was introduced in the United States in 1934 and eventually became the best-selling brand with the slogan “It will leave you breathless.”

Perhaps our description of Smirnoff as classic was nostalgic, possibly a result of the imprinting of its flavors and aromas on our brains in some early quest through our parents’ liquor cabinets. But its smooth neutrality and pleasing texture also won it points, and its success illustrates a vital truth about vodka.

Unlike most other spirits and certainly unlike beer and wine, vodka does not necessarily benefit from artisanal manufacturing. The bearded bumpkin who minds the barrels in the ad campaigns for bourbon has no place in the production of vodka. In fact most socalled vodka producers do not even distill their own spirits.

In the United States almost all vodka producers buy neutral spirits that have already been distilled from grain by one of several big Midwestern companies like Archer Daniels Midland. The neutral spirits, which are 95 percent alcohol or more, are trucked to the producers, where they are filtered, diluted and bottled. In our tasting only one brand, Teton Glacier Potato vodka, was distilled by the producer. Another producer, Hangar 1, distills a portion of its spirits and buys the rest.

What sets vodkas apart from one another are essentially the base ingredients used in the distillation and the water. Most spirits can be made only from certain prescribed ingredients, but vodka can be distilled from just about anything that can be fermented into alcohol: grains, vegetables, even fruits.

Our tasting included vodkas made from wheat, rye and potatoes, even a couple that used grapes. Hangar 1 is distilled partly from wheat and partly from viognier grapes, which perhaps lend the slight sweetness the panel detected. Possibly the combination results in a complexity, which we all liked. Another vodka, Cîroc Snap Frost from France, is distilled entirely from grapes, but we sensed a disjointedness in it that kept it off our list.

Like gin, vodka can be produced just about anywhere, and our tasting included four from the United States; four from Poland; three each from Russia, France and the Netherlands; and one apiece from Switzerland, Estonia, New Zealand and Sweden. Russia and Poland both claim to be the originators of vodka. None of the Russians made our list, but two of our Top 3 were from Poland. The Wyborowa, which comes in a striking bottle designed by the architect Frank Gehry, was elegant and mysterious and seemed to keep drawing us in. The Belvedere was exceptionally pure and smooth.

All four entries from the United States made the list. In addition to Smirnoff and Hangar 1 they were Skyy, which Ms. Fabricant suggested would be superb ice cold, and Teton Glacier Potato vodka, which seemed to conform to the government definition of tasteless and odorless.

While we chose to focus on unflavored vodkas those blended in the factory with flavorings like lemon, black pepper and even chocolate may be the fastest-growing category of all. Given the government definition of vodka, the success of such flavored vodkas may raise the philosophical question one day of exactly what constitutes a vodka.

The prices of these vodkas ranged from a low of $13 for the Smirnoff to a high of $34 for Potocki, a Polish vodka that did not make our cut. The Belvedere also cost $34, but that was for a liter rather than the usual 750 milliliter bottle. Imported vodkas tend to cost more, partly because of taxes levied by various governments, currency exchange rates and, not least, marketing concerns: as has been proved in many industries, wine not least of all, raising the price of a product increases its status among consumers.

Possibly with that in mind Stolichnaya has just introduced a new vodka, Elit, for $60 a bottle. Because Elit was not available in New York at our tasting, the panel did not sample it. Its marketers say it is “carefully crafted using a centuries-old Russian recipe and a revolutionary ‘freeze filtration process.’ ” The bottle is certainly sleek. What’s inside may be another matter.

[Chili 18]

Martini's are well how should i say this, they are a cover, a sham, everyone always says just wave the vermouth over the shaker if you want drink staright gin or vodka just order it that way, are they embarrased of what they drink why not just take the chilled bottle of gin or vodka from the freezer pour into you favorite glass and enjoy, and the hole garnish thing the olives or onions on a sword, fruit slices, little umbrellas please give me a break
is it mandatory to drink with your pinky out ???
;)

Well, it all comes down to refinement. Can you appreciate a superior cocktail? The process of shaking does add some really cool ice crystals to the glass. And the salad, well, it’s akin to a glass of red wine with a heavy meal. It resets your taste buds.

Feel free to swill direct from the bottle if you wish. I like a nice Stolichnaya on the rocks now and then. But a well made Martini is different.
:party:

[Chili 18]

In blind taste tests Beefeater Gin scored the highest for flavor and bouquet.
Don't waste your money on the high priced stuff, get a better Donzi instead.
I Like Sapphire because of the Licorice sort of undertone. Never cared for Tanquery. It’s just a matter of what tastes good to YOU.:party:

[Sport]

Just the Vodka and 3 olives !

[Marlin275]

I Like Sapphire because of the Licorice sort of undertone. Never cared for Tanquery. It’s just a matter of what tastes good to YOU.:party:

Just put a Licorice stick in your salad and save the money.:yes:

[mattyboy]

Well, it all comes down to refinement. Can you appreciate a superior cocktail? The process of shaking does add some really cool ice crystals to the glass. And the salad, well, it’s akin to a glass of red wine with a heavy meal. It resets your taste buds.
Feel free to swill direct from the bottle if you wish. I like a nice Stolichnaya on the rocks now and then. But a well made Martini is different.
:party:

my point exactly, pinky's out , sweater tied around shoulders,
no other cocktail has such a snobbish,aura of social one upsmanship associated with it

Oh and I have enjoyed a few cocktails in my day ;)

[boxy]

Oh and I have enjoyed a few cocktails in my day ;)

Gentlemen, there is your front runner for Donzi.net Understatement of the Year :wink: :wink:

[Schnook]

Taking advice from all these taste tests, it's a very subjective topic. I use grey goose because the wife prefers it, I personally prefer belvedere but don't drink martini's often enough to warrant buying it instead. My drink of choice is 18 yr glenmorangie single malt when I can afford it, glenlivet 12 yr when I can't. Splash of water, twist of lemon. Now get off of my sweater.:)

[hardcrab]

1. - GLASS (clean if possible when entertaining)

2. - ICE (unused or rinsed off if entertaining)

3. - GIN (no kerosene substitutes)

[YoAnthony]

I must agree with Matty although I am not sure if that is a good idea politically!

Keep it simple. Martini glass stored in the freezer along with Bombay Saphire.

Pour cold saphire into chilled glass - done. Hold the fruit and vegetables. Okay, maybe a plain olive (because it matches my green Donzi) but no pimento, cheese, almond, jalapeno pepper.....

Its a little disturbing how much attention this thread is geting:)

[roadtrip se]

One chilled crystal martini glass.

Three fingers of Three Olives Vodka, a reasonably priced vodka, poured over ice in shaker.

Skewer two large jalepeno stuffed olives from Jardines in Buda, Texas.

Pour ice out of glass and run a little martini and rossi dry vermouth around the glass, then disgard.

Shake that shaker until the ice breaks.

Strain into glass over the olives and slow down for awhile.

Repeat...

Perfect!

[roadtrip se]

a favorite of many ladies in my life including my mom, Jill, and Polly Horne.

Chill crystal martini glasses.

Pour three fingers of Absolut Citron, a splash of Cointreau, and a splash of cranberry juice into the shaker.

Cut a lime into quarters and squeeze the juice of two quarters into the emptied glass. The quarters give you an opportunity to squeeze a a little pulp in.

A sweeter variation is to use Absolut mandrin with no Cointreau.

My trademark with these is to pour them so tall that they can't pick them up without leaning over for that first sip...

Tasty...

[roadtrip se]

the Roswell...

Chill crystal martini glass.

Pour three fingers of Absolut Mandrin and a splash of Midori liquor.

Squeeze two lime quarters into the empty glass.

Shake vigorously and pour.

Glows bright green.

Jill requests this one often.

Okay, I'm done.

[Chili 18]

Ill try one of each/\/\/\/\/\
One Martini
.
Two MartiNi
.
THRee MartinI
.
Floor