Recently, I decided to watch Spectre, the latest flick in the James Bond series with a couple of my friends at home. It’s touted to be the most expensive Bond film and one of the most expensive films ever made.
The film was widely discussed for two things — Monica Bellucci and Bond’s favourite tipple, a martini.
The drink, as we know, is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. According to Henry Louis Mencken, who is an American journalist and a scholar of American English, the Martini is “the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet”.
Today there are different versions of martini served, thanks to ever-changing tastes and habits. As sonnets travel from place to place, so do the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. However, the exact origin of the martini is unclear. If you check the sources related to this alcoholic drink, it varies from 18th Century till today. There are a few records about its origin in books, bartender manuals and hotels but the theory is blurred to our knowledge.
For a classic martini, gin and dry vermouth are combined in a 2:1 ratio, stirred in a mixing glass with ice cubes and strained over a chilled cocktail glass. It is finally garnished with either olives or a twist of lemon peel.
There are a few variations. A dirty martini, which James Bond consumed in Spectre, contains a splash of olive brine or olive juice, and is typically garnished with an olive.
A perfect martini uses equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth. Some martinis were even prepared by filling a cocktail glass with gin, then rubbing a finger of vermouth along the rim.
These days there are quite a few maritini drinks available, or should I say, drinks with the suffix “tini” added to it. There’s appletini, peach martini chocolate martini, pomegranate martini and espresso martini. A common alternative to gin is vodka, which is referred as a vodka martini, which in Bond style, is shaken, not stirred.
One can serve this drink in a martini glass, or even on the rocks with the ingredients poured over the ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass. Stirred by Mr. Bond’s bravery and style in his movies, I just have one clear choice to make — order for a martini; shaken with a twist of lemon. Cheers!
The writer is a food and beverage manager, Mars Hospitality, Mumbai.
