What are you drinking?

[M. Montaigne]

Orange bitters martini

Attachment 13518

Oh man. That sounds perfect right about now.

[M. Montaigne]

Ditch the salt and lime!

Geoff, man, what on earth are you talking about?

A dash of salt off the neckline of a hot damsel and a lime from her mouth. That's the best way to drink tequila.

[CanadianStraps]

It's not my preferred weather for this, but we started melting snow today and it was so nice to not have to bundle up, I couldn't resist.

A 'perfect' hendrick's martini.

[geoffbot]

Perfect as in lots of vermouth?

[CanadianStraps]

Perfect as in lots of vermouth?

That would be the antithesis of 'perfect'. Maybe using the term 'perfect' for a martini is not so widespread: we use it to describe a largely untouched, XXX dry martini of fine gin. Vermouth ruins a gin martini, as does contact with ice. The gin itself should be frozen (put the bottle in the freezer for a day or more: the alcohol content will keep it from solidifying), meaning that when it is below freezing temp, it will pour like syrup. With Hendrick's, a twist of cucumber peel in the glass covered with the frozen gin. That is all.

[geoffbot]

That would be the antithesis of 'perfect'. Maybe using the term 'perfect' for a martini is not so widespread: we use it to describe a largely untouched, XXX dry martini of fine gin. Vermouth ruins a gin martini, as does contact with ice. The gin itself should be frozen (put the bottle in the freezer for a day or more: the alcohol content will keep it from solidifying), meaning that when it is below freezing temp, it will pour like syrup. With Hendrick's, a twist of cucumber peel in the glass covered with the frozen gin. That is all.

I know this! I forgot to put vermouth with my martini recently and it tasted great so I now basically omit it. A 'perfect' martini is one of equal parts dry and sweet vermouth. That is all .

[Der Amf]

Great letter in The Times years ago:

Should you find yourself alone and lost in the jungle, take one part vermouth and add it to one part gin. Immediately someone will appear at your side, saying, *that's* not how you make a dry martini

[93EXCivic]

Ditch the salt and lime!

This is the best way to drink tequila IMHO.

[93EXCivic]

That would be the antithesis of 'perfect'. Maybe using the term 'perfect' for a martini is not so widespread: we use it to describe a largely untouched, XXX dry martini of fine gin. Vermouth ruins a gin martini, as does contact with ice. The gin itself should be frozen (put the bottle in the freezer for a day or more: the alcohol content will keep it from solidifying), meaning that when it is below freezing temp, it will pour like syrup. With Hendrick's, a twist of cucumber peel in the glass covered with the frozen gin. That is all.

I can't do gin. It just tastes like Pine Sol to me.

[CanadianStraps]

I can't do gin. It just tastes like Pine Sol to me.

Try a better gin? Just like any other booze, the spectrum will range from swill to magic potion. I have tried and enjoyed many 'craft' gins, but there are 2 mainstays for me: Hendrick's, with unique botanical and just the slightest olfactory hint of cucumber (hence why I put a bit of peel in my pour) and Tanqueray 10, which I think is the best all-around gin available. Very dry, very drinkable.

Much like scotch, there are a trillion different ways of doing the same thing, and I have certainly had a few well made but 'challenging' gins that I probably wouldn't attempt again.

If your experience is limited to an entry-level bottle (Beefeater, Gordon's, Plymouth, etc) then you really don't know what a dry gin is all about.