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what gin for a great gin and tonic???

Bill Ferris said:
Yes Sir, as I was shown/schooled by a very experienced WWII era veteran Navy multi engine rated Pilot neighbor in 1998, when I first explored Gin Martinis.

He explained and showed me the method of pouring a little splash of the extra dry Vermouth into the glass then swirlling the Vermouth around the well chilled glass to just coat it before dumping the remainder out.
Then the shakened well chilled quality Gin or Vodka was poured into the Vermouth coated glass to make a proper Martini, with 3 big green Olives speared on a plastic miniature sword or tooth pick.

Very enjoyable, IMO/E after the end of a long day of outside summer time activities, and rarely were seconds desired.
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That is a recipe for someone who wants a gin forward martini, or does not really like the taste of dry vermouth.

The precursor to the martini is the Martinez cocktail. It called for a 1:1 ratio of gin 1.5 to sweet vermouth (1.5oz of each) with a 1/4 oz of maraschino liqueur and a splash of orange bitters. Today this would be called a sweet martini.

Somewhere forward in time the dry martini came along and was a 2:1 (gin to vermouth) ratio. Somewhere in the 50s people went to a 4:1 ratio.


As for having seconds, I guess this would depend on how much gin your first one started out with.

During the American party, often referred to as Prohibition, a martini glass was a lot smaller than what is sold today.

I mix mine 1oz of gin to 0.5oz of dry vermouth, and two olives. With those amounts, I usually drink four martinis.

I do not put any ice in my martini shaker, which is what I mix mine in. I store my shaker and gin in the freezer, the vermouth in the frig. The shaker and and gin are stored in the freezer between martinis. This is how I keep them cold, without watering them down. And they are stirred, never shaken.
 
ducati_EL34 said:
That is a recipe for someone who wants a gin forward martini, or does not really like the taste of dry vermouth.

The precursor to the martini is the Martinez cocktail. It called for a 1:1 ratio of gin 1.5 to sweet vermouth (1.5oz of each) with a 1/4 oz of maraschino liqueur and a splash of orange bitters. Today this would be called a sweet martini.

Somewhere forward in time the dry martini came along and was a 2:1 (gin to vermouth) ratio. Somewhere in the 50s people went to a 4:1 ratio.


As for having seconds, I guess this would depend on how much gin your first one started out with.

During the American party, often referred to as Prohibition, a martini glass was a lot smaller than what is sold today.

I mix mine 1oz of gin to 0.5oz of dry vermouth, and two olives. With those amounts, I usually drink four martinis.

I do not put any ice in my martini shaker, which is what I mix mine in. I store my shaker and gin in the freezer, the vermouth in the frig. The shaker and and gin are stored in the freezer between martinis. This is how I keep them cold, without watering them down. And they are stirred, never shaken.
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Until my fridge/freezer became as filled up as it is these days, I stored everything you mentioned in their respected compartments, including my Martini glasses, but now I just mix them up ahead of time and put the non-ice filled shaker or pitcher, if a friend is going to be joining me for drinks later, so everything is well chilled several hrs. later when we/I partake.

I`ve been a 4:1 or higher ratio guy, since my first Gin Martini preparation lesson in 1998. "Appletini" is the only Martini variation that I`ve explored that my local Long Horns steak house used to offer, and that drink was so tasty it was very dangerous, as it went down very easy !
 
Bill Ferris said:
Until my fridge/freezer became as filled up as it is these days, I stored everything you mentioned in their respected compartments, including my Martini glasses, but now I just mix them up ahead of time and put the non-ice filled shaker or pitcher, if a friend is going to be joining me for drinks later, so everything is well chilled several hrs. later when we/I partake.

I`ve been a 4:1 or higher ratio guy, since my first Gin Martini preparation lesson in 1998. "Appletini" is the only Martini variation that I`ve explored that my local Long Horns steak house used to offer, and that drink was so tasty it was very dangerous, as it went down very easy !
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We have plenty of below freezing storage. We have an upright freezer in the pantry. Since my aunt who lived with us passed away, it is not used for much. I was also given a large dorm refrigerator, which I keep down to below freezing for alcohol storage.
 
ducati_EL34 said:
We have plenty of below freezing storage. We have an upright freezer in the pantry. Since my aunt who lived with us passed away, it is not used for much. I was also given a large dorm refrigerator, which I keep down to below freezing for alcohol storage.
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My 1983 purchased Sanyo brand mid sized (~4ft high) fridge/freezer in my sun room is nearly filled up with various over flow (extra gal. of milk/half&half) fridge items, and that still working perfectly and kept at 34` as monitored with a wireless temperature display unit, and that`s where I keep my double walled with some kind of fluid between the walls Martini glasses in the fridge`s bottom pull out clear lexan drawer, until needed.
My daily 2 G&Ts don`t require the Tangueray to be hyper chilled, so the 1.5 Liter bottle stays on the counter next to the kitchen`s fridge/freezer for quick access !
 
Pio1980 said:
Who was it that defined his dry martini as breathing the word "vermouth" over the glass before introducing the gin?
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That was similarly & comedically shown to me by my Martini Mentor in 1998, as he said for ultra dry Martini`s one just opens the Vermouth bottle and passes it over the drinking glass for the Vermouth`s fumes to just graze the glass, and that`s all there is to it for a real Martini experience !
 
ducati_EL34 said:
That would depend on the brand of gin, and what botanicals they use. It sounds like you do not like the taste of juniper.
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its not the juniper. I can't do rum or whiskey straight either. Need to cut it with at least water to tone down the solvent aspect of it so I can get the other flavors. My nose and my taste buds are very burned out after spending the last 15 years working in a warehouse full of spices. I just can't pull out a mix of flavors anymore when there is one thing that is much stronger than the rest of it.


Bill Ferris said:
Yes, as I understand, quality extra dry, is the "proper" Vermouth choice.
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not the style of vermouth, the martini itself. Less vermouth = more dry. Basically a fancy way of ordering a glass of straight booze.
 
I haven't had gin in nearly fifty years. I got violently sick after drinking "gin &juice" with a gang of co-workers after work one night. I do like bourbon and sometimes rum, tequila and some other spirits.
 
ducati_EL34 said:
That would depend on the brand of gin, and what botanicals they use. It sounds like you do not like the taste of juniper.
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Botanicals are what sets gins of equal quality apart from each other. I love the juniper flavor of gin, which is why Beefeater was always a favorite in my G&T.

Monkey 47 is the only gin I can drink straight. Although there is juniper in it, he flavors most present to me are elderberry and rose hips. It makes for a very soft and floral drink. Easy to drink chilled or with one ice cube and it makes a killer G&T.

As far as a martini goes, adding olives and/or Vermouth just clashes with the gin on my palate. To me, Vermouth is foul tasting. As a bartender, when a customer ordered a dry martini, they got a one count. When a customer ordered an EXTRA dry martini I would pour a one count of Vermouth in the chilled glass, swirl it around a few times and then dump it out. Customers never complained.
 
AreBee1969 said:
Botanicals are what sets gins of equal quality apart from each other. I love the juniper flavor of gin, which is why Beefeater was always a favorite in my G&T.

Monkey 47 is the only gin I can drink straight. Although there is juniper in it, he flavors most present to me are elderberry and rose hips. It makes for a very soft and floral drink. Easy to drink chilled or with one ice cube and it makes a killer G&T.

As far as a martini goes, adding olives and/or Vermouth just clashes with the gin on my palate. To me, Vermouth is foul tasting. As a bartender, when a customer ordered a dry martini, they got a one count. When a customer ordered an EXTRA dry martini I would pour a one count of Vermouth in the chilled glass, swirl it around a few times and then dump it out. Customers never complained.
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I wash off the excess brine from the olives, before I put them in the glass. I don’t have a problem with good dry vermouth.
 
Reading this thread, I have conclude that taste in booze is even more subjective than taste in audio, by a wide margin.
I'm having a martini right now. Three ounces of Roots of Ruin gin (53%), 1/4 ounce of lovely Interrobang dry vermouth, shaken with ice, and served in a freezer chilled glass with two queen olives.
 
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