The original Martini recipe was one-half dry gin and one-half dry vermouth. In the early 1940s this proportion began to change to two or three parts dry gin to one part dry vermouth and the gin was 80 proof.As for the price of gin, it cannot make a claim for age so it is really grain alcohol with botanicals added for flavor one of which, Juniper is an allergen to many and this accounts for the intense hangovers some individuals experience and also the preferences for various brands. It would seem that the price differential would mainly be advertising and quantity produced.
I consider ordering drinks in bars, etc., a waste of time and money in that when I was mixing/serving drinks; owners adulterated (watered down), refilled, etc., and most bartenders are not mixologists just pourers. When I want a mixed drink, I make it myself at home and respond when asked if I can make a drink as good as a bartender that the question has been stated in reverse.
All glassware should be chilled, ice should be dry, cracked, and hard frozen, gin should smoke when poured over the ice, then add the dry vermouth, stir until very cold, strain immediately into chilled glasses. Olives, onions, lemon peel, never. W. C. Fields who was a Martini lover said when he was served a martini with a twist of lemon peel that if he wanted lemonade he would have ordered it and ditto for all else. On the rocks, never.
As for Vodka, drink it like the Russians.
I drink what I enjoy not because it is "in" to consume something whether I enjoy it or not; why else?
Health, wealth, happiness and the time to enjoy them.
Richard
