Balsamic Martini, Take 2

Tonight was redemption for the awful attempt of this martini last week.

Balsamic Martini:

• 3 oz of Gin (I used Tanqueray)
• 1/4 - 1/2 oz 3 Dry Vermouth (I used Gallo for very mild flavor)
• 2-3 drops fine Balsamic Vinegar (I used Bellindora Balsamic Fig)
• Twist of Lemon
• 2-3 Castelvetrano Olives

The balsamic vinegar gives a subtle, kind of savory and still sweet undertone to the gin and vermouth. It pairs well with the olives. I put some Castelvetrano olives in this time. They are not a perfect martini olive in most cases--small, a bit soft and the flavor is very mild and more sweet than other olives. But they match perfectly with this drink.

Lestat Martini

Lestat Martini:

• 3 oz of Tanqueray Gin
• 1/2 oz St. Germain (elderflower liqueur)
• 3 Shakes Cayenne Pepper powder

Laissez le bon temps rouler! Combine gin with a splash of St. Germain (there are other brands of elderflower liqueur but I haven't tried them yet.) Shake mixture over ice and strain into glass. Sprinkle liberally with cayenne pepper. 

Spicy, sweet and perfect on a steamy summer night. This is the drink Lestat uses to wind down after a long night's hunt.

Cayenne Pepper
By André Karwath aka Aka - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16319 

Peruvian Kiss

Barsol Perfect Love Martini:

• 3 oz of No. 209 Gin
• 0.5 oz BarSol Perfecto Amor Aperitif
• Twist of Lemon
• Shake over ice & pour

BarSol Perfecto Amor from Peru claims it is "the ultimate premium artisanal wine." It is a sweet and savoury aperitif that mates perfectly to a flavorful gin. The bottle says it is a pisco, Peru and Chile's take on brandy. The taste of Perfecto Amor is a bit like a tawny port. It seems syrupy but with complexity that keeps it interesting. You will find tastes like raw sugar cane, ripe fruit, nuts, black tea, musk, cantaloupe and even aged beef. BarSol Perfecto Amor has a carmel color and when mixed with gin gives a slight yellow/amberish color about like ginger ale. BarSol produces a smooth and easy sipping martini great for soothing a long, stressful day.

  

Classic Martini

Tonight's recipe is just the classic American Martini: gin & vermouth:

• 3 oz. Gilbey's Gin 
• 0.5 oz. Dolin dry vermouth 
• Lemon Twist 
• 2 Spanish Queen olives 
• Shake over ice & pour into cocktail glass

Wilson & Chloe help pick a glass.

Gin.

I buy a lot of gin. I'll try just about any gin. And I like most of them. But for a classic american martini I prefer classic gins. You won't go wrong with Tanqueray, Gilbey's, Bombay, Beafeater's or Gordon's. We want clean juniper taste and we want to be able to taste the vermouth, lemon and olive. Seagrams offers gin in a beautiful bottle at a reasonable price. And it is awful. New Amsterdam has a dramatic bottle. I tried for months to find a way to drink it. Nope. It is disgusting. Tonight we are using Gilbey's. The Gilbey's recipe dates to the 1870s. The reason it has lasted so long is that the flavor still beats many of the very best on the market. And the bonus is that Gilbey's price is reasonable.

Vermouth.

The best vermouth I've found is from Noilly Prat. . . and it is a version you can't buy it in the United States. If you can find the straw-colored dry vermouth they sell in France, it produces the finest martini I've ever had. Noilly Prat tried to sell it in the USA for a couple of years and Americans complained that their martinis were no longer pure, clear gin. Noilly Prat gave up and returned to a clear, bland formula for the USA that is no better than Gallo. So don't waste your money. The closest match I've found to the French Noilly Prat is Dolin. So tonight's martini features Dolin Dry Vermouth.

Olive or Twist?

Lemon oil from a twist makes a martini! I like a wide, irregular shred of peel. The most important part of this step is to hold the lemon rind over the glass and twist it. We want to release a spray of lemon oil into the glass for the intense flavor and aroma. Wipe the peel around the rim of the glass too. It makes a big difference.

When you order a martini, bartenders ask if you want an olive or a twist? Or?!!