And a minor drink-related rant while I’m thinking about it.
Over the weekend Fred and I finally celebrated our first wedding anniversary by going out for a nice dinner. We arrived at the restaurant and perused the drink menu, with my eye immediately landing on “Cucumber martini” with Hendrick’s listed as the first component. I am a gin boy, and I enjoy Hendrick’s, so I figured the other components would enhance the cucumbery goodness therein.
I should have read more. I got a martini glass full of cold neat Hendrick’s with a ribbon of cucumber in it.
Folks: If you don’t put anything else in it, then it isn’t a martini. It’s just gin. Don’t call it a martini if it isn’t a martini.
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These days, a “martini” is any drink served in a cocktail glass. You can probably count on it having either gin or vodka as a base spirit, but that’s about as far as it goes.
I am a martini purist. To be a martini, the drink must contain gin and vermouth. The vermouth must be actually present (it is not sufficient to “think of vermouth while pouring the gin”), but it may be present in very limited quantity. The drink may also contain a dash of bitters. It may be garnished with olives, capers, cocktail onions, or some similar such accoutrement.
Anything that fails to comply with the above is not a martini. It might be a very good drink, but it is not a martini and should not be called one.
I agree with the comment above, although I am willing to concede that one can make a martini with Vodka.
But those “appletini” “choctini” concoctions are NOT martinis. In fact, they are abominations. I will accept that they are cocktails (however vile), however they don’t belong on a martini list.