Martini traditionalists: What is a true Martini to you? Gin Or Vodka? How much vermouth?

Question

Just tell me how you prepare the perfect Martini, according to you! I would appreciate knowing which brands you use too!

Cheers!

Answer 1

Two and quarter ounces of Gin to a dash of dry vermouth.

A real Martini is made with Gin. Bombay Sapphire.

"Connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of gin"

Answer 2

A true Martini is any variety of British Gin - with whats called a "whisper" of dry vermouth (not the sweet - that makes something entirely different)

Chill the glass. Then pour in about an .25 oz of dry vermouth - swirl the glass around till it's lightly coated with the dry wine and then dump. Then add the chilled gin with a couple green olives.

Some question has arisen with "shaken or stirred" - thanks 007 but a true martini is prepared in a decanter or pitcher mixing multiple drinks at a time and therefore stirred. Critics have said that shaking gin "bruises the gin" - in actuallity the only thing shaking does is add water - the more agressively you shake the gin in ice - the more water melts off the ice and dilutes the gin.

Bombay Sapphire is my favorite.

Answer 3

The martini has gone through several transitions over it's many years of existence.
To start with, to properly be called a martini, it must contain gin, vermouth, and an olive. If garnished with an onion it becomes a Gibson. If changing the garnish changes the name, then using vodka in place of gin certainly makes it a whole different drink.

If it does not contain vermouth it is not a martini. It is just cold gin. (Nothing wrong with drinking cold gin, just not a martini.)

The current standard in martini's is a dry martini, 1 part dry
vermouth to 8 parts gin.

The classic martini is one part dry vermouth to 4 parts gin, and a dash of orange bitters (optional).

The original martini recipe, from long long ago, is equal parts sweet vermouth and gin, with a dash of orange bitters. (When the original martini was invented, dry vermouth was not available in the New York where the martini was created.)

I prefer one part sweet vermouth with 3 parts gin and a dash of orange bitters (or Angostura bitters is orange is not available.)

I use Beefeaters Gin, which is a bit more intense than many like in their martinis, but is more like the original recipe. The gin in the original drink was probably quite strong and rough around the edges. Much more so than even the worst gin available today.

As for a more standard martini-like hybrid drink, I enjoy 2 parts Beefeaters, 2 parts Skyy Vodka, 1 part dry vermouth.

Answer 4

A martini is definitely gin. I use Bombay Saphire or Beefeater. I like a drier martini. I use one capful, from the vermouth bottle, of vermouth with 3 ounces of gin. Freeze the glass, stir the gin and vermouth with ice in a chilled pitcher or cocktail shaker, pour the drink into the glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.

Answer 5

A true martini is made with gin; period.

I put my martini glass in the freezer and let it get ice cold. I take a little bit of vermouth and swirl it in the glass and shake out as much as I can. The vermouth left on the sides of the glass is all you need. Shake your favorite, I like Bombay Sapphire, over ice and strain into your glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel and you have the perfect martini.

Answer 6

martini is actually a brand of vermouth (i am not sure if it is still available)
a martini was traditionally prepared with gin and dry white vermouth
the amount of vermouth you put in depends on how dry you like your martini
a general rule of thumb for a good martini is 5 parts gin and 1 part vermouth can be shaken or stirred
traditional garnish is olive but some use lemon peel
all depends on your tast :)

Answer 7

The perfect dry martini: Chill a martini glass, use a spray bottle to mist the inside with vermouth, fill with Tanqueray Gin, add a couple of green olives....Simple and classic.

Answer 8

Well, you already know my feelings on gin: No need to get fancy, no need to spend big. Gibley's or Seagram's works just fine. Bombay Sapphire, with its lemon peel and coriander and such is, to me, as close to gin as fruit punch Kool-Aid is to sangria.

Four parts gin and one part dry vermouth is my mix. I shake mine over crushed ice, which is a no-no these days because it waters down the drink. It also makes it damn cold, which I like, and if it's watered down, that's more martini that I can enjoy. If we were trying to keep the drink so strong, we'd be mixing Everclear, yes?

Take your chilled martini, pour into a heavy glass, and drop a cannonball olive in it. Enjoy, repeat, and then find the nearest guy urging you to set an open bottle of vermouth in front of a fan across the room or somesuch and punch him squarely in the nose.

Cheers!

Answer 9

The original and still the best Dry Martini is made with Plymouth Gin.

Pour a shot of dry vermouth (Noilly Prat is my preference) into a Martini glass and rinse it around and empty it.

Next fill the glass with Plymouth Gin straight from the freezer.

Zest a strip of lemon over the top and drop it in.

Simple but still the best cocktail ever created.

Answer 10

Gin, that is what a martini is.

I don't care for 'em, but my dad liked 'em the drier the better. Basically, he would pour the Vermouth over the ice, then pour of the excess back in the bottle.

Now the Ice has some vermouth frozen to the surface...now put in your measure of gin, shake it up, the vermouth will melt itself off the ice.