Cocktail Hour - Friday October 19, 2013: Warren and Gary

Warren and Gary came over for drinks and dinner last night. Gary and I had Tanqueray martinis. Mine was very dry, of course. Gary's? Not so dry. He likes a bit more vermouth than I do. Dale had wine.

Cocktail Hour - Saturday September 17, 2011

Tanquerey martini tonight and I'm following all the rules - including vermouth and olives. Listening to Lady Gaga's Pokerface at this moment.

Cocktail Hour at Warren and Gary's

Cocktails before dinner at Warren and Gary's. They introduced us to their friend John. Gary mixed me up a Tanqueray martini. He used quite a bit more vermouth than I ever would but it was still quite good.

The Martini

The gin martini is my favorite cocktail. Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, or Hendricks are the different gins I like to use. The best dry vermouth is Noilly Prat or Martini and Rossi.

To make a martini I line a glass with Noily Prat vermouth and pop it in the freezer. Then at cocktail hour I'll fill another martini glass with Bombay Sapphire gin which will then be dumped into the shaker. I'll add a drop of vermouth (I like 'em dry) and shake the whole thing up. I've heard a martini is better when shaken in waltz time. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, etc... Once properly shaken I'll pour it into the frozen vermouth lined martini glass. Cold is so very key. I keep the gin in the freezer even though I've been told it is not good for the gin. I love getting ice crystals floating at the top of the drink.

Does anyone know when exactly the first martini appeared? Probably not but there are a few interesting stories floating around out there. Some say a 'professor' named Jerry Thomas came up with the first one in San Francisco around 1850. According to the story, a miner headed to Martinez, California stopped by Thomas's establishment and requested something new and different. What he got was a 'Martinez', the precursor to the Martini.

Professor Thomas's 1887 edition of The Bartender's Guide included this recipe:

Professor Jerry Thomas's Martinez

Use small bar glasses
One dash bitters
Two dashes maraschino
One wine glass vermouth (sweet vermouth)
Two small lumps of ice
One pony (one ounce) Old Tom Gin

Shake up thoroughly and strain into a large 'cocktail' glass [then shaped more like a wine glass].

Put a quarter of a slice of lemon in the glass and serve.

If the guest prefers it very sweet, add two dashes of gum syrup
-from The Little Black Book of Martinis