“I love to drink Martinis,
Two at the very most
After three I’m under the table,
After four I’m under my host.”
-Dorothy Parker

This is the original martini. The one with history and class.

Screw James Bond. I’m pretty sure Ian Fleming’s martini recipe that called for gin and vodka started this whole vodka martini craze. Sex and the City didn’t help any either.

You make a martini with gin and vermouth, the less of the former, the better. The official IBA recipe calls for 5 part gin to 1 part vermouth ratio. Hemingway drank his 15 to 1. In Teacher’s Pet, Gable rubs a damp cork around the rim of a martini glass before adding the gin. Hitchcock mixed gin with a quick glance at the vermouth bottle. And then there’s the joke that all you have to do is whisper “vermouth” over the glass.

A little too strong for me, but I’m glad I had one.