Martini FAQ

[Cashmere]

Hi Folks,

As the thingy over <---- there says, I'm new in town.

I hope it won't be taken amiss if I share a little project of mine... I wrote the Martini FAQ a number of years ago (ca 1998), and have been tinkering with it off and on since.

http://www.rdwarf.com/users/mink/martinifaq.html

Comments welcome!

Regards

 

[kpreed]

WELCOME! I learned so much, Thank You.
P.S. I lived for a while in your fair town and worked at Camp Merrill.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Welcome to the Lounge, Cashmere.

I greatly enjoyed your Martini FAQ. I had a professor in grad school that led me to Martinis (and rye whiskey, but that's another story). He had me pick up a copy of Bernard DeVoto's The Hour, his paean to the Martini. Thanks to DeVoto, it looks like I'm a Prescriptivist. lol

Brad

 

[Cashmere]

Thanks, guys.

The Hour ... I just love that book. Don't agree with everything he says (I'm not sure we're supposed to), but man can DeVoto write! I laugh out loud when reading it, not because he's being humorous, precisely, but just from sheer enjoyment of the writing.

KP, were you a Ranger? I've read they do their mountain training at Camp Merrill. I'm actually jumping the gun just a bit by putting Dahlonega down as my address. We're closing on our house there this Friday. I've always loved that area, and that kind of town, so as you can imagine, I'm pretty excited about the move.

 

[kpreed]

Cashmere: Yes, I worked there from 1973-1975. A great little town then and hope it is still. My son was born in near-by Hall County Hospital.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I've been thirsty all day since reading this thread so I had to rectify the situation, frosty glass, plastic sword, and all.

Brad

 

[1961MJS]

Hi Cashmere

I've tried to like Martini's, but I've worked out that I HATE Vermouth (don't like Manhattan's either). I love your writing style, and the FAQ is great. I drink most OTHER drinks with Gin in them, I especially like the Hendrick's Gin and Tonic with the cucumber in it.

Later

 

[Cashmere]

Thanks Mike!

I won't try to convert you, since there are so many other good things to drink... many of them even claiming to be martinis.

 

[dnjan]

I've been thirsty all day since reading this thread so I had to rectify the situation, frosty glass, plastic sword, and all.

The guy who introduced me to Martini's used cocktail onions instead of olives. I still like cocktail onions that have been marinated in gin.

 

[Cashmere]

Hi Don,

A martini garnished with cocktail onions... that would be a Gibson.

Dang, could go for one 'bout now. Kinda early, though. And the boss would frown.

I've never seen gin-marinated olives in a store... is that something you bought, or made yourself?

 

[dnjan]

Thanks. He always just called them martinis.
These were gin-marinated onions. Same onion, third martini (gibson) ...

 

[TheNightingale]

Just found your Martini FAQ, I like it! I'm a classicist myself, of the Eric Felten school—if there's anything but gin & vermouth in the glass, it's not a martini. The profusion of "appletinis" and other "martinis" involving a broad range of bizarre ingredients not even slightly related to gin, vermouth, or common sense is bothersome, but nearly as bothersome as trying to explain things to those who think "Apple Pucker" belongs in anything referred to as a martini!

Fine page. You ought to put a picture of Nick Charles on it! More often than not, I do all right at a bar when asking for "a martini, the way Nick Charles would have wanted it". No vodka, no straight gin (!), and sometimes...they even stir!

 

[Cashmere]

Thanks, Nightingale. So glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Packin' Heat]

If I recall correctly, in Casino Royale (book), James Bond orders a custom drink (which he later terms a "Vesper") "shaken" because he prefers the gin to be bruised. His (in)famous "shaken, not stirred" vodka martinis appear a few books later, but judging from his drink--one of many--in the first book, he prefer a mix of gin and vodka in his martinis. Thought that might, despite possibly making the drink foggy, clear things up.

Anyway, that is a beautiful and educational FAQ. Just smashing. Love it. I will never look at the martini as just "a drink" again.

 

[Yeps]

I am a prescriptavist. Not that there is anything wrong with the myriad drinks served up in a cocktail glass, a martini is must a specific one.

 

[amador]

I didn't know I was a Prescriptivist. I do know that I went to Ranger School. Very intense, about 35yrs ago, started drinking after, I still have an occasional nightmare that I am back in Ranger School. Nothing a good Martini won't cure. Great FAQ.

 

[Yeps]

I am a prescriptavist. Not that there is anything wrong with the myriad drinks served up in a cocktail glass, a martini is must a specific one.

What in the world does "is must" mean? I swear I was not drinking when I wrote this.

 

[amador]

Since your misspelling led to that particular choice of grammer I figured you were, a bit early to start tho.

 

[Yeps]

Since your misspelling led to that particular choice of grammer I figured you were, a bit early to start tho.

That would be horrible. I wrote that at 8 in the morning whatever day that was. I am still not quite sure what I was trying to write.

 

[m0nk]

Excellent write-up, and I have never tried my dry Martini's with lemon, but knowing that the purist would prefer (and I'm generalizing based on my understanding of the underlying tone) that olives only go in a dirty Martini, I may have to try the lemon twist after all...