Ask Your Bartender: Martini Advice
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
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Hey Bartender
As a novice bartender I find that martini etiquette can be quite confusing, perhaps because the traditional martini and the present-day fad are different. I understand not shaking clear martinis, and I also do not add vermouth to vodka. I suppose I would like to hear your take on what to shake, and how to interpret customers. Also, do you shake Manhattans or stir them? From your article I was not sure of your take on them…
Thanks,
Hillary
Hey Hillary
The rule is that clear drinks should never be shaken - the thinking here is that since a clear drink is made from such delicate ingredients (traditionally aromatic liquors such as gins, fortified wines such as vermouths, aromatic bitters, etc.), the additional water that comes from shaking a drink would be an unwelcome component. And that definitely goes for the Manhattan as well.
I’m sure you know that using a chilled glass is going to keep the drink colder for longer (there’s nothing quite like pouring a cold drink in a warm glass), but the choice of container you use to mix the drink is just as important. Make sure to use a metal cocktail shaker rather than a glass, as metal is a better conductor of heat than glass is, and therefore draws heats from its surface and chills your drink better. Silver will get a drink colder than stainless steel will, and glass just acts as an insulator. The bummer is that silver shakers are difficult to come by these days.
As an aside, please note that it’s not possible to “bruise” gin. This is just a bullshit myth perpetuated by Martini “connoisseurs” who want to impress you with their “knowledge” and “sophistication”. It’s a meaningless term, trust me. However, they’re right about not shaking a martini - they just don’t get why.
As far as proportions are concerned, I personally love the flavor of vermouth. I know that’s not really a popular sentiment these days, but I’ve found that most martini drinkers have confused a hatred of vermouth for sophistication. Vermouth is a wonderful thing (sweet vermouth: oh-my-god), especially when we’re talking about high-quality vermouths. I tend to make my Martinis with less vermouth than I do my Manhattans: 4-to-1 gin to vermouth for a Martini, and 3-to-1 vermouth to bourbon/rye for a Manhattan.
It is impossible to guess a customer’s preference for gin versus vodka, vermouth versus none, bitters versus none, etc., so I recommend asking what your customer wants in their cocktail to ensure you give them the exact drink they’re looking for.
Even if it is a shaken vodka “martini” with no vermouth.
06 Dec 2006 at 2:41 pm 1. Mad Jack
Nice site.
The term ‘bruise the gin’ came about as a sort of joke. Amatuer bartenders will shake the living daylights out of everything in sight, and rather than launch into a long explanation involving liquor, water, ice and ice fragments, the client would simply state that ‘you’ll bruise the gin’.
This worked pretty well until Hollywood came along with James Bond and specified ’shaken, not stirred’. I object with the old standard about bruises and gin.
You’re quite right about the vermouth. Few people know that good vermouth has a nice flavor to it. The trouble is that the MD 20-20 that passes for vermouth in most bars does nothing to compliment the rocket fuel that passes for gin. Order top shelf or nothing, I say.
25 Jan 2007 at 1:13 pm 2. RC Hardin
I’ve read in a couple of places that “bruising” the gin refers to the fact that shaking a martini introduces air bubbles into the cocktail, leaving it temporarily cloudy. While I don’t know if that’s the true origin of the term, I find it interesting that many who naysay the term take it so literally. I’ve read so many comments along the lines of “you can’t bruise gin — it’s liquid, not fruit” and so forth. It is so obviously a metaphorical expression that any attempt to take it literally carries an air of reactionary dismissiveness.
24 Mar 2007 at 6:27 pm 3. Charles P
Here here! I simply love a good martini (that would be gin) and a good martini is not complete without a portion of quality vermouth (4 to 1 is my preference also).
23 Jun 2007 at 12:49 pm 4. Chip and Andy
But when do you add the sour apple?
OK, bad joke. But many discussions with my work buddies eventually drift to the martini (I work for goverment, we drink a lot). While I prefer my martini at about 5 to 1 with a top-shelf gin, every single one of my work buddies insists that the Martini Fad has been around since the end of prohibition and that the Sour-Apple martini has been around since forever.
Maybe we can get an Act of Congress or a Presidential Decree reclaiming the Martini as a specific recipe and not as a catagory of other drinks and glasses.
23 Jun 2007 at 12:58 pm 5. Jeffrey
Well, Chip and Andy, the Bacardi Rum company won a court case in 1936 that stipulated that only Bacardi Rum could be used in the Bacardi Cocktail, so maybe you’re on to something!
13 Jul 2007 at 4:15 pm 6. Jeffrey Morgenthaler » Dirty, Dirty Sue
[…] A. Why would someone send me, of all people, a martini mix? B. Who needs a dirty martini mix anyway? It’s just olive juice and gin, right? […]
06 Aug 2007 at 4:13 pm 7. Beak
For me the term “bruising the gin” has less to do with flavor and more with texture. I want a crystal clear pour into my choicest glass with little to NO shards of ice. If I wanted a slurpee then I’d go to 7-11, but for now I want a chilled dry gin martini. Yum.
17 Nov 2007 at 5:38 pm 8. Kevin Erskine
I always shake martinis. I don’t believe the “bruising” myth.
What dilutes a martini is adding too little ice to the shaker…
The shaker should be filled to the brim with good quality large cubes…not crappy, watery, melty little shards…
I also prefer a gin martini.
I often confuse bartenders when asking for a “wet” martini…and it usually results in their fucking it up.
Also just as adding an onion turns a “martini” into a “gibson” I think the bartenders of the world should unite and decide that a “dry vodka martini” is just a cold glass of vodka . . . and not a martini at all.
My $0.02.
13 Jan 2008 at 9:29 am 9. Jeanne
Hi, recently while cleanning out a seldom used closet I found 2 gallon sizes bottles of Baileys Irish Cream with the dates April 95 & April 99 UNOPENED. There was also a bottle April 88 that was open–which I poured down the sink, it did smell ok. Also in that box there is a bottle of Kahlua –OPENED–I can’t find a date but it must be from the same era as the Baileys. My question is —are these bottles ok to drink? Hard to believe these went unnoticed for so long–but they were in a box with several unused comforters on top.Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Jeanne
16 Feb 2008 at 9:07 am 10. The Pegu Blog
[…] Pegu blogger to argue with this, especially since I don’t drink Gin Martinis? I’ll let Jeffrey Morganthaler take a crack at it. When it comes to Martinis, you can choose for yourself between modern bartender […]