My House Martini Won't Have Olives
I understand why that's the classic serving now, but for me the drink works better by pumping up the citrus notes
Would this full “house martini” investigation be more interesting if I tested multiple additions and garnishes with every possible combination of gin and vermouth? Yes, that would be awesome. Unfortunately, I have a day job (that I actually like, currently) and that’s an extraordinary amount of work. So, this is the part of the recipe that’s consistent across the board.
At first, I worried that I was going too far against the intention of the drink. An olive is so iconic that I feared I might be making a different cocktail entirely with the focus on the citrus. My wife will confirm that I avoided ordering martinis out for years because I feared being the only one ordering “with a twist.” I no longer have any such reservations - this is the best way to make the drink, and it’s truest to the original to boot.
The official IBA recipe specifies a lemon twist as the garnish with an olive only “on request,” so turns out I’ve been doing the right thing all along. It’s everyone else that’s wrong, and in my house we respect the IBA.
That’s very far from true, but I found a point justifying my own and I will tout that shamelessly. Usually, the IBA can kick rocks.
Orange Bitters
This is the part that’s obviously not in the official recipe, but I tend to believe that every drink should have a dash or two of bitters. It’s like the salt of the cocktail world - bitters enhance other flavors and round out a profile. Orange bitters work almost everywhere and are probably the bottle I go through fastest.
Orange bitters taste like an orange that you’re eating as if it were an apple. There’s sweetness and bold citrus oil, but there’s also an intense bitterness. A little goes a long way; just a dash or two in a martini before you stir can help tamp down some of the edginess of the gin and accentuate the non-juniper botanicals in a way I really enjoy.
Lemon Peel
There’s really not much to say here. I don’t do anything fancy with my peels (that’s for actual bartenders and/or influencers), I just take a sharp peeler, get a thin layer off the lemon lengthwise, and twist it on itself gently to express the oils.
Always do that over the glass, and make sure you didn’t get much pith with the peel. If you see any semblance of flesh on the lemon, you’ve gone too far and you’ll add too much bitterness. Before you drop the peel into the drink, run it around the rim of the glass to make those oils last a bit longer and give more affect to the nose.