Be well, be healthy.

Let’s mess with Google and indulge a little in my 90/10 rule, shall we?

You’re certainly welcome to comment and debate (or agree) with me but I feel I’m duty bound to shout from the highest mountain top (or blog, as the case may be) my idea of the perfect martini.

It was said that Winston Churchill’s idea of a perfect martini was drinking a glass of cold gin while looking at a bottle of vermouth from across the room. Although that would certainly make for a very dry drink – a martini it was not!

A “perfect” martini is one with equal parts gin and vermouth. Personally, I see nothing perfect about such a drink because the vermouth overpowers most gin at these proportions… and I like vermouth. I also prefer the soul of a circa 1900′s classic, dry martini. (Dry being dry vermouth, not sweet vermouth).

No, to me, the perfect retro hipster drink is a combination of ingredients, preparation, and a little something extra. I’m inspired to write about my martini as I sit here and sip one – so you’ll pardon any poetic liberty I take because I do believe it makes a difference. I rarely drink but when I do a good martini is certainly at the top of my list of choices to indulge in.

* Start with chipped ice. Cubes are okay but chipped is better. Shaved ice is not permitted – it dilutes too much and gets too cold. Chill a martini glass with ice before beginning. A martini glass is best because A) this is a martini and B) you need that stem to hold on to so the heat from your hand doesn’t warm the drink too fast. Then, fill a Boston shaker with ice about half way. Give it a moment for the mixing glass to chill but not long enough to melt the ice much. If it does begin to melt – just pour it off leaving only the ice behind.

* Dry or extra dry Italian or French vermouth. I have a thing for Tribuno in spite of its pedigree. Splash about 3/4 or 1 oz. across the ice in the mixing glass. Give it plenty of time to reach the bottom – it needs to tumble across the ice to chill. Yes, you can jostle it a bit on the way down provided you do so lovingly. This is where a little Frank Sinatra playing in the background helps. I recommend “Fly Me To The Moon” on vinyl. Let’s not use an MP3 at a moment like this, okay?

The variation between 3/4 oz. and 1 oz. are not to be vague but are to be your first hint that ingredients must take into account the other players in which they are in the company of. In this case, personally, I find 3/4 oz dry Italian vermouth often works best with highly floral gin (such as Bombay Sapphire or Hendricks’). 1 oz. of vermouth works a bit better with gins such as Beefeater, Gordon’s, or Plymouth.

Now, and these are important bits, Don’t get fooled by this nonsense of “coating the ice” or draining out the excess vermouth. Measure in your vermouth and treat it with respect as a proper ingredient.

Vermouth is an fortified wine – it’s wonderful. However, I’m guessing that so many bartenders (or home bar enthusiasts) don’t realize it’s vino-nature and neglect to store it in the refrigerator. Old, spoiled vermouth would turn me off too! However, the fresh stuff is fantastic!

* Gin. You will, again, splash 2 1/2 oz. of this across the ice in the Boston shaker. Give it enough time to waterfall down to meet the gin at the bottom recovering from the 2-count. Do this all with unchilled gin. You’re keeping your gin in the refrigerator? What on Earth are you thinking? It’ll be far too cold to help the ice melt the bit that it needs to. Water, from that melting ice, is critical in most cocktails to blend and balance the spirits. Keep your gin on the shelf of your bar – not in the cooler. Besides, gin is an aromatic and if it gets too cold it loses that aromatic quality.

If all goes well, Frank has already played among the stars and is holding hands and getting that first kiss. It’s time…

Add 2 dashes or orange bitters. This is an essential, original ingredient and one of the core definitions of a cocktail is that it must contain bitters.

Now, I can already hear some of you bellowing back about the gin and saying something completely silly about James Bond and vodka. I don’t care. Bond, James Bond is missing the boat on this and it’s not the only thing! So there! Nyeaaaah. Besides, gin is basically vodka but with hints of herbs and juniper – so I suspect that if you approve of vodka you’ll approve of gin and my rule of thumb is to not take fictional characters too seriously.

Let’s get back on track, shall we?

Having taken a moment to ponder what it would have been like if Frank really could have “sung forever more” it’s now time to stir. That’s right – stir.

You see, shaking chills gin far too fast and far too cold. This may be part of that old notion of not wanting to “bruise” the gin. We need to let the gin have some time to get to know the vermouth but without chilling below that 30 degree Fahrenheit threshold. Stirring is the way to go. Sorry 007… your two mismatched ships also passed in the night. It was never meant to be. Stir for 20 seconds while you enjoy the sultry tones of Frankie. Also, the exquisite mouth-feel of crystal clear (not clouded with air bubbles) can only be achieved by thoughtful stirring.

Okay, It’s at this point, if done correctly, Sammy Davis Jr. looks down from the heavens upon you and little ghosts of bartenders-past swirl around your chilled martini glass. It’s now time to work quickly. You must dump the ice from the glass and place at the bottom a green olive (yes, green, not black, we’re not making a buckeye here we’re paying homage to tradition). You may, however, do a couple of things to your liking at a moment like this. You can add one, two, or three olives (but not four as we’re staying under 3 oz. of total drink here) and you can let a little bit of the brine travel along with the olive/s into the glass but please keep this to a minimum. This is a good thing. Yes, Manzanilla pimento-stuffed green olives are perfectly fine. Yes, a 3 oz. martini is the right size. We’re not making a Spring Break Slushy Special here in a ten ounce glass. We are civilized, responsible martini aficionados.

Now, pour the contents of your chilled mixing glass that’s had the perfect amount of time to come to temperature into the martini glass with olives at the bottom. You’ve now created the perfect martini.

The ingredients and amounts are tied-in with the method and since we’ve had several stages in preparation we’ve also done some very important things – brought the ingredients to the perfect coldness as well as allowed just the right amount of ice to melt along the way to help marry the ingredients together. No umbrella, no neon, no rimmed glass, no bar mix… just pure, unadulterated cocktail happiness.

If all went well (and I’m sure it has) you’re beholding your glass about the same time ‘ol blue eyes is singing “I love you” and the moment couldn’t be more perfect.

Comments, questions, duels… all are welcome.

As one of the few concessions I’ll make to my method and belief of the perfect martini I do allow a nod to Alessandro Palizzi of the Duke’s Hotel Bar in the use of only frozen ingredients, frozen glass, no stirring, and no dilution. I accept any contradictions this may bring because who am I to argue with Maestro?

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From the Jubb.ly site itself:

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