How to make a Great Martini Masterclass

As I'm sure you've noticed there are so many martini variations it can all be a little bit daunting, especially if you're at a crowded bar and you don't want to end up spending all of your money on a drink that you don't really fancy. So while it's just you and me here I'm going to unpack a little bit of the mystery of the martini and help you choose what's your favourite. I'm also going to run you through some tips and tricks and let you know what spirits I choose to give your martini the best flavour and texture possible. To be honest making a great martini is easy. The key word is cold. The easiest way to achieve this is to keep your spirit, serving glass and mixing glass in the freezer. This just helps take away the harshness of the alcohol. If you don't believe me try a shot of gin from the freezer you won't even notice it go down. If everything is really cold then you won't end up over diluting your martini and it will have a lovely oily and viscous texture. If you can't don't stress just stir your martini on the best ice that you can find, that way you can control the dilution and make sure that you stir it for long enough that it's icy cold. And yes I did say stir we're going to leave the shaking to James Bond because it's not going to give us the silky smooth texture that we're looking for. Maybe he had enough of that himself. As with all cocktails you want to choose base spirits that are going to give you the flavours that you're looking for in the cocktail itself. The martini is so simple it is easy to see this in action and of course you're going to need really good quality ingredients. First let's put olives in something savoury, a dry martini. Later we'll put a twist in something citrusy, a wet martini. For our dry martini we're using gin. Tanqueray and Plymouth gin suit both wet and dry martinis as does Grey Goose if you prefer vodka and they're all available most places in the world. But for my gin martini I can't go past Gin Mare. This Spanish gin is made in a little fishing village on the Mediterranean and heroes at the local Arbequina Olive or Arbequena if you know how to say that please do let me know. It also uses a lot of other Mediterranean herbs like thyme and rosemary and basil so it's basically a pizza in a bottle, just kidding. But with so many herbal and savoury notes I don't actually really think it needs the addition of olive brine and it would probably drown out some of the lighter citrusy notes that are really going to bring this martini to life. When it comes to your vermouth just make sure that it is fresh. Once you've opened a bottle of vermouth it should be refrigerated and it only lasts for about a month. A lot of brands will do little half bottles which are perfect for making martinis at home but we're really highlighting the gin in our dry martini so I've gone for Dolan Dry. It's a bit lighter in body and has really nice herbal and citrus notes. It's made with fresh ingredients and good quality wine which means it's going to do a really good job of supporting the Gin Mare without overshadowing it. As with all martinis it comes down to The ratio of gin to vermouth here is 12 to 1 but some people like it as dry as 25 to 1 or even just popping a little bit of vermouth in your mixing glass stirring it around with ice and then straining it back out again. You'll just have to try a few ways to figure out what you like. So you need five mils of your Dolan Dry vermouth, chilled. Don't put this one in the freezer because the alcohol content isn't high enough so it will actually freeze but still as cold as you can get it in the fridge. And 60 mils of our icy Gin Mare straight from the freezer. Now when it comes to the olives, bartender Laura dictates that you should only garnish in uneven numbers so either one olive or three olives. If you only get two olives it could be that the bartender doesn't like you very much. I've gone for anchovy stuffed olives because they're my favorite but obviously any kind of olives that you like. Fill your mixing glass with as much ice as possible and then stir it by putting the back of your bar spoon against the inside of the mixing glass and pushing the ice around. Obviously as this is basically pure gin it does need a fair amount of dilution but just keep testing it as you're stirring if you're not sure until you hit the sweet spot where you don't have any of that harsh alcohol taste. Perfect. Grab your icy martini glass, pop your julep strainer in to hold the ice back and pour. Don't forget the best bit, classic dry gin martini with olives. So now you know. As I mentioned martinis are really all about the texture and Keto One vodka is partially distilled on copper pot stills which gives it a lovely texture and flavor on the palate, unlike a lot of other vodkas which are much lighter in body because they are distilled on column stills to briefly summarize a massive topic. It also has lovely honey and citrus notes which will work really well in our wet martini with a twist, just make sure it's icy cold. While you can have your choice of vermouth I really love using local products and this Regal Rogue Lively White vermouth is no exception. We're really bringing the vermouth out of the background here so it's good to go for something with a bit of character. Australia has long been known for its wine and producers are now starting to have a little bit of fun with vermouth as well. So this one is made from really aromatic semi-on grapes and they use native botanicals like lemon myrtle and finger lime as well as chamomile and grapefruit so it's going to give us a really citrusy and fragrant punch which is quite different from the savory and dry martini that we made earlier. It's also what's called a Bianco vermouth so it is still white but has a little bit more sugar in there than the dry vermouth which will just round out this cocktail really nicely. So in this drink we're going to use a grapefruit twist which plays really well with both the vermouth and the vodka that we've chosen. Look for a grapefruit with nice skin that you're going to get a lot of oils off. In this one in a martini glass you do want the twist to be a little bit more decorative so I tend to trim it down once I've cut it off into a little triangle shape so that you can drape it over the side of the glass. So we want two dashes of orange bitters it's just going to help with the floral aspect of this cocktail and lengthen it out and it was the traditional way to do it after all. Then we're going for 20 mils of our Regal Rogue Lively White vermouth, 40 mils of our ice cold Keto One vodka. Add as much ice to the mixing glass as you can fit in there and give it a stir. Remember that because this has more vermouth in it to begin with you won't need to stir it for quite as long as it doesn't need as much dilution. Give it a little taste, it's my favourite, and pour it into your chilled glass. To finish grab your grapefruit twist, hold it with the skin out and give it a sharp fold over the top of your cocktail so that it expresses all of its lovely aromatic oils. Roll it round and hook it on the edge of the glass. A wet vodka martini, so now you know. So which do you prefer, wet or dry? It's all down to personal taste and what you feel like on the day, but hopefully you've learned enough to have an experiment for yourself. So now you know and it's over to you, but have you ever wondered where the martini comes from? If so check out this video, or if you're still unsure how to order a martini and want to do it like a boss then have a look at this one. Thank you very much for watching and don't forget to subscribe.