Tips and Tricks
Don’t use crushed ice. Crushed ice will melt faster and dilute your cocktail. Ice cubes will be easier to strain out of the cocktail when pouring it into your glass.Stir don’t shake. Cocktails that are spirit-forward or made with only liquor are stirred, while drinks that contain more mixers or are more complex are commonly shaken to better combine the ingredients. Switch out gin for vodka. If you don’t enjoy the botanical or piney flavor of gin, make your martini with vodka like in the classic dirty martini.
Being an at-home bartender doesn’t have to be intimidating. You don’t even need a lot of fancy equipment; my essentials are a cocktail shaker, a strainer, and a jigger. If you don’t have the budget to buy sets of four high end glasses, hitting up thrift stores and look for used sets of two works great! And of course, for the best tips on making perfect cocktails, come here. We have so many recipes for classic cocktails and lots of great tips and tricks so they come out perfectly at home. Today we are making a classic gin martini and I have a few simple pointers that will make it absolutely perfect.
On the high end of price points, you will find Monkey 47, considered a premium gin.Lower on the price list, you will find Hendrick’s and Tanqueray.
As with anything, you should pick what works best for you and what you like the flavor of. Other ways we make your cocktail cold:
Mix the cold ingredients with ice cubes. This will dilute the drink slightly as the ice melts in the glass, but will keep it cold.Serve it in a chilled martini glass. See more on this below.
The same principle holds true with a good martini. Filling the martini glass with ice and cold water and letting it sit for a minute while you gather the ingredients and make the cocktail will chill your glass quickly. Toss out the ice and water before straining your martini ingredients into the chilled glass and enjoy a cocktail that stays cooler longer. Traditionally, a lemon twist (or curl of a lemon peel) is run around the rim of the martini glass. Then you squeeze it into the cocktail and drop it in. Serving your gin martini with a twist adds just a pinch of acidity to your gin cocktail.
The French 75 is my all-time favorite champagne cocktail.I love turning a traditional Moscow Mule into a Gin Mule.And if you are looking for a lower-calorie cocktail, make my Gin Rickey!
