You’ll notice that I will often use “sweet” and “fruity” as disparaging terms. It’s not that any cocktail made with fruit or with a sweet side is bad. It’s just that current trends have put such an emphasis on neutral spirits and candy-like ingredients that any quality of the cocktail gets lost.

Nowhere does the current vogue for sweetness need to be more resisted than with the martini. I think T-Rage gets its right when he says,

The martini is another rare, perfect thing (”the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet,” as H.L. Mencken had it). It has a history. It should be hallowed. There are only a few variations on the theme that should be allowed, like dry or very dry. This vulgar proliferation of so-called martinis—these froo-froo concoctions that are only martinis, in a perverse reversal of Mencken’s diktat, because they’re in a martini glass–has gone way too far. The classic martini is that rare gender-neutral cocktail—something both men and women can drink, looking elegant but not effeminate drinking it. It is the ne plus ultra of urbanity, more cosmopolitan than a cosmopolitan. These fruity-tooty drinky-winkies that they’re pawning off as martinis are heresy, pure and simple.

So, too, do I second Fareed Zakaria in his call for vermouth.

The idea of making a martini with no vermouth in it is absurd. It is, to put it theologically, contra naturum. The martini is a mixed drink. A goodly portion of vermouth rests in its very essence.

For me, martinis are gin with a noticeable quantity of vermouth. I’m not sure I’d consider vodka martinis heresy, but I don’t see the point of them. It’s the balance of the harsh-herbal gin and the winey vermouth that, beyond the V-shaped glass, gives the martini its reason for existence. Vodka doesn’t have the flavor to stand up to vermouth; you’d be better off doing like the Eastern Europeans and serving small Ittala glasses of the spirit, chilled and neat.

So I stick with a good dry gin though I don’t need anything too expensive. What follows is my favorite recipe for a martini. A 4:1 gin-to-vermouth ratio seems right to me for modern palates: enough vermouth to reintroduce balance where ultra-dry fashion has left only booze, but not so much as to make the drink seem like cheap white wine. Whatever the proportions, be sure to chill the glass well and to properly chill ingredients, whether shaken or stirred. The difference between cold gin and warm is immense.

Classic Martini
Makes 1 cocktail

2 jiggers dry gin
1/2 jigger dry vermouth
olive

Put ingredients over ice in cocktail shake. Shake vigorously and pour into a well chilled cocktail glass.

Straight from the AP wires, news of a super-distilled scotch in the making:

The Bruichladdich distillery on the Isle of Islay, off Scotland’s west coast, is producing the quadruple-distilled 184-proof — or 92 percent alcohol — spirit “purely for fun,” managing director Mark Reynier said.

Whisky usually is distilled twice and has an alcohol content of between 40 and 63.5 per cent.

Bruichladdich is using a recipe for a spirit known in the Gaelic language as usquebaugh-baul, “perilous water of life.”

Call me a wuss, but 92 percent alcohol doesn’t actually sound like fun drinking to me. I happen to get along well with my esophagus. Oh well, it’s probably more gimmick than anything.

The article goes on to note that it will be 10 years before the scotch is aged, adding that

In the meantime, customers will be able to watch the whisky’s progress on the distillery’s webcams.

Sounds like riveting viewing.

The distillery’s site: Bruichladdich

Welcome to Boston Cocktails. Remarkably there seem to be few, if any, cocktail blogs out there, and this one looks to step into the gap. What is a cocktail blog? Well, this one is part commentary, part guidebook, and part assessment of Boston nightlife offerings. It will include:

• Recipes for cocktails and mixed drinks that are classic, newly discovered, forgotten or simply favorites of mine.
• Reviews of Boston drinking establishments and the libations they prepare. Which bars are the coziest? Where can you get a decent sidecar? Which hotel bars are worth visiting? Does Back Bay have a bar that’s affordable or free from the Newbury St. scene? There are a lot of incompetent bartenders out there; at the same time, some of Boston’s bartenders create drinks that truly deserve attention.
• Thoughts on drink trends. Nothing seems so trend-driven as cocktail culture, yet like good food or drink, spirits do have a value that goes beyond the lifestyle fads and fashions. They can be complex, well-balanced and even as artisanally-made as a fine cheese. Cocktails are fun and get us drunk, but that’s not a good excuse for artificially flavored ingredients and substandard booze.
• Features on spirits, from advice on which gin to buy to possibilities if you’re looking to splurge on a bottle of cordials. And where to buy the harder-to-find stuff.
• Occasional reviews of beer and wine. I’m not a big wine drinker myself, but will bring in a guest wine buff suggesting what bottle to buy for a reasonable price range - perhaps a welcome feature to those who read magazine and newspaper reviews of wines that are nowhere to be found in local liquor stores.
• How-to guidelines for novices at mixing drinks and ideas for incorporating spirits into entertaining in your home. As an amateur, I doubt I have any great advice about cocktail mixing beyond what’s in your basic bartending book. Then again, why wade through 500 recipes for shots or improbably named drinks meant to be served in plastic cups, when you’re really just looking for something simple, nice and impressive to serve at your next dinner party?

I’m not a professional bartender and never have been. I’m just someone who likes cocktails and spirits, whether making them at home or ordering them out. To me, home bartending means something different than restaurant bartending - and a different set of priorities in entertaining than the average bartending book deals with. The local newspaper and nightlife magazines produce cocktail sections that say more about their advertisers than about the quality of drinks. Finally, the cocktail craze has reintroduced a sense of fun and sophistication to nightlife but has also spawned mere trendiness. It’s amazing what the pickiest of wine snobs will swill down if you put it in a cocktail glass.

Maybe none of that bothers you like it does me. I still hope you find this blog enjoyable and useful.