Liver troubles?
I’ve just started to learn to drink cocktails. Nothing fancy — just vodka & tonic and vodka martinis (and lemon drops, yum!). This is due to some unfortunate experimentation in my youth… I really can’t stand the smell of most liquors. Vodka is easy, because it’s relatively odorless. (Yeah, I know, connoisseurs can discern flavors, but I can barely tell the difference between two rieslings, let alone two vodkas.)
Anyway, instead of trying to clean up our vintage bar set (which has been in various basements for the past 40 years) I went out and bought a cheap cocktail shaker & some martini glasses. I also bought some vermouth. Now I can try to figure out what kind of martini I like.
I mixed my first homemade martini using the proportions on the vermouth bottle — 1 part vermouth to 3 parts vodka shaken with ice, and threw in a few olives. Oh, wow, they must want to sell vermouth. It was, I dunno, too much. I don’t have the experience for talking about dry vs. sweet or whatever martinis, so all I can say is that next time I’ll reduce the vermouth by half. I’ve read the wikipedia entry suggesting that vermouth shouldn’t be closer than in the same room with the gin (vodka in my case), but in my opinion that’s not a cocktail, just a large shot.
Of course, I’m also learning about vermouths, and realize that they’re all “family recipes” so it may be a while before I find one I like.
I hope my liver will be able to manage all this experimentation.
