Tag: martini

Friday Night Cocktail: the Lower-Alcohol Dirty Martini

I have not published a Friday Night cocktail post in some time. Possibly because I have been drinking much fewer cocktails than I did a few years ago, especially during the pandemic. While I have enjoyed many different cocktails in that time, my preference tends to be a martini, which I have often posted about here.

Ley me add one more post of a recipe for a particular form of martini because it captures the zeitgeist: it has a low A.B.V. and it is not just A martini but A DIRTY martini. If you are like many others, those two things will appeal to you. To be honest, I am curious about this myself!  Now I still wouldn’t start making them on a school night, but YMMV.

Whenever you have one, I hope you enjoy it. Cheers!

Is there any cocktail abused more than the martini?

It must be the glass, because no cocktail is abused more than the martini. If you make up a cocktail and put it in an old fashioned/whisky glass or even a Nick and Nora glass, it will only get so much attention. But that changes when you put it in a martini glass. Suddenly you have the drink du jour.

I thought of that when I read this in the New York Times: How Much Dirtier Can the Dirty Martini Get? I am not a fan of a dirty martini or really any drink with “-tini” added to the end of it. Ugh. I’ve had enough dirty martinis to know that they are a terrible drink. I honestly am happy to let people drink whatever concoction a bartender can make, but I draw the line at those.

As for me, I’d recommend a straightforward wet martini. Other slight variations of that are fine, including the 50/50 martini  and even a freezer martini. But dirty martinis? No thanks.

Friday Night Cocktail: the Wet Martini

Too much is made of martinis being dry. Meh. A martini is a cocktail: if you just want to drink gin or vodka straight up, do that instead.

I especially like this Wet Martini Recipe from Pete Wells because it leans into not one but two different vermouths as well as some other ingredients to make a true cocktail. Martini lovers especially should give this a try.

Friday Night Cocktail: a fancy martini (or three)

Here on the old blog, we like a good martini. Indeed, we have written often about that drink, as you can see. Many of those have been either classic or – dare I say – basic. Which is fine. Basic and classic are good. Fancy and new are also good. If you have a preference or are in the mood for that, I have three appealing martini offerings for you:

Whatever you prefer, fancy or basic, classic or new, I raise my glass to you. Cheers!

(P.S. Thanks to the good folks at Food and Wine for these recipes. If you want even more martinis, check out this article by them. The three you see are on a list of many more.)

Friday Night Cocktail: the freezer martini

On my Instagram feed I am seeing lots of reels on how to make fridge cocktails. Essentially you have a bottle of liquor in your fridge but instead of it being simply vodka or gin, it is a full on cocktail, premixed and ready to drink. Why not?

In the same vein, I propose you consider making the freezer martini. Like the fridge cocktail, the freezer martini sits in your…well, you know. So when you need a martini this weekend, just pull this out and pour a splash in your martini glass. All you need to add is some olives or a lemon twist and you are set.

For more on this and how to best make them, see Imbibe Magazine or Eater. It’s slightly different than you typical martini.

Speaking of olives, you can freeze them too! I mean who wants a warm martini? No one of good taste.

For an alternative way to keep your martinis cold, see this nice hack: How to Make a Pitcher of Martinis That Stays Cold at the Thrillist.

Cheers!

(Image link: to Imbibe magazine)

Friday night cocktail: the shaken martini (with guest appearances from Bill Murray and Google Trends)

You might think, how much can be said about a martini, shaken or not? Well quite a bit if you are David Lebovitz. I recommend you check him out and then get out your cocktail shaker.

Need more reasons to drink one? Well, you can be cool, like Bill Murray, here  drinking one in his new film, On the Rocks. 

Based on Google Trends, people must drink martinis mainly at Christmas. So save this post until then. Or be a trend setter and start having one now.

It’s Friday. Have a martini!

Martini

Of course you can go out and order one. But if you feel like staying home and making one, then the good folks at Bon Appetit have two version on the classic martini you might be interested in trying:

  1. The Modern Martini
  2. Fifty-Fifty Martini Recipe | Bon Appetit

Don’t have martini glasses? Consider Crate and Barrel: they have a selection here.

(Image from Crate and Barrel)