How do you like your martinis?

Noilly Prat is my preference. It is more or less the same price as Rossi. I like to keep it in the fridge. I feel it keeps it fresher. Fortunately orange bitters are easily available at any better liquor store. I remember having to search like crazy for them 10 years ago.

As for the 2/3 to 1/3 gin to vermouth ratio, feel free to play with it. I like vermouth, but that is a LOT. Personally, I like 3oz gin to 1/2 oz vermouth.

Here is another recipe I just discovered last night, but haven't tried it yet.

Colony Martini
3oz gin
1 bar spoon absinthe
4 dashes orange bitters

Yes, those are blue tipped olive picks (showing a little wear in the picture, although not so evident to the naked eye) with a blue based glass and bleu cheese stuffed olives for my Bombay Sapphire dirty martini (Dolin vermouth). I know, looks more like an hors d'oeuvre than a drink. So be it. It's tasty. Even got a couple of ice shards to form in the shaker.:skep:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps6d323092.jpg

Sounds like you need to try a bottle of Magellan Blue gin to complete your blue motif! It doesn't just have blue in the name but instead is a true blue gin from France at a nice 88 proof.

The blue color is not artificial but instead comes from the petals of the Iris flower. Iris root is also one of the botanicals used to make this unusual gin.

There's a great martini article on Slate, this week. Seven parts.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/d...ournament.html

Tim

A friend has a simple martini recipe, he keeps a bottle of gin in the freezer. That's it.

2:1. i like the gin and vermouth interplay. also a dash of orange bitters does wonders. i prefer martin miller's westbourne strength for martinis.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...ps2e1c904a.jpg

Usually in someone else's glass. When I did drink martinis I like cold gin with as little vermouth as possible and a couple of olives.

Back in prehistoric times I had a boss that would take his staff to Joe Muer's (in Detroit, now gone) to lunch and they made a great martinis. We never left with less than two.

Boy, those were the days.