That darn 007 ruined martinis for the rest of us. Talk about a license to kill (womp womp). If you walk into any hotel bar, any fine dining restaurant, and even some cocktail bars, you're likely to see a people sipping over-diluted and under-vermouthed drinks that taste more like rubbing alcohol than a cocktail.
Ok, so maybe it wasn't James Bond alone who killed the martini. It was also the 1970s and 1980s, when vermouth really started to disappear from the recipe. By the 90s, people were drinking glasses of cold gin or vodka. Ew.
If you hate martinis, hate gin, or hate vermouth, it's possible that you actually hate crappy martinis. Try using a good dry gin, nothing that comes in a plastic bottle. Vermouth is an amazing ingredient, but it does have a short shelf-life. If you're drinking a martini with a vermouth that's been sitting out for eight months, no wonder you think vermouth tastes like a gross foot. Use a good dry vermouth (we love Dolin in particular, but Noilly Prat will definitely do the trick). Taste the vermouth when you first open it and take note––that's what it should taste like. Refrigeration will extend the shelf-life. A lemon garnish will make this drink sing. Olives won't cut it because they don't add the high note that all cocktails need. The orange bitters do make a big difference in this drink. We like to use a spicy bitter, alcohol based bitter, not a sweet one. If the cocktail doesn't have fruit juice, it shouldn't see the inside of a shaker. We stir (not shake, don't listen to Bond) with cracked ice and whole ice, both of which are big and very cold. The hardest part to making to a truly incredible martini is proper water dilution. We found that cracked ice helps get the drink diluted pretty well, but it's still a hard thing to master.
Ratios vary from person to person. We offer a pretty wet recipe (meaning it has a good amount of vermouth). Some people like them dryer, some even wetter. Experiment to see what you like. If you already have a preference, please share it with us!
Our recipe:
2 oz gin
.75 oz dry vermouth
4 dashes orange bitters
lemon garnish
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