I’m having a martini moment. From fancy serves in top bars to the humble homemade, I’m all about the gin and vermouth right now. For some reason, I’m hell-bent on finding the martini of my dreams and to be honest I hope it’s a never-ending journey.
I want to share this journey with people, including those I invite round for dinner, but often that takes too much time and ice than I am willing to commit to on a Saturday night. I love a pre-made mix but I’m trying to learn here, so Saturday night called for a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ moment.
Would you rather have one tiny martini, or a whole bottle of martini? Well, the good news is you can have both, by batching it up and freezing. I decided to take inspiration from the best little number I ever had, the One Sip Martini at Tayēr + Elementary. I’m in love with the concept, the execution, the name and the experience.
Knowing in my heart that I wouldn’t be able to recreate the real thing, I decided to steal the concept and make it my own way. The original mix is vodka, vermouth and fino sherry, garnished with a blue cheese olive. Here’s my version…
- 200ml The Lakes gin
- 50ml Bombay Sapphire
- 100ml Noilly Prat vermouth
- 150ml water
- All mixed into a glass Kilner jar and kept in the freezer
- 10 Perelló olives stuffed with St Agur blue cheese
Before you say it… the water doesn’t dilute the drink too much, and I know eight very hungover people who will be able to qualify that claim. It simply emulates the icy stir and slight intentional dilution that would usually combine the ingredients of a martini. After being in the freezer for around six hours, when poured it seemed quite viscous, but to drink was extremely smooth. I had read that too cold of a drink would lose its taste, so I let them sit for a minute or two before adding the pre-stuffed olives and serving.
This mix made 10 mini glasses of martini; the olives were maybe a little too big but absolutely delicious. This is such a fun and easy way to serve martinis and they went down a treat. Now I know this works, there’s absolutely no reason not to have a batch of martini in the freezer every day… except the fact that I would drink one every day and it would hinder my martini quest.
