Perfect Dirty Vodka Martini??

I can make almost any cocktail better at home than I get at most bars. There are, of course, exceptions.

However, one thing I can never make as good at home as I tend to get in most bars is a dirty vodka martini. I either get it too dirty or not dirty enough.

Looking for some suggested recipes so I can get this down pat home.

I tend to use Ketel vodka, and blue cheese stuffed olives

When you order a dirty martini at a bar, do you specify that you want vodka?

Have you tried it with gin? Not trying to be a dick, but Iā€™ve found most vodka martini drinkers make great gin martini converts.

Have you tried using slightly more vermouth than you typically use?

Have you tried a dash of orange bitters?

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Putting aside my opinion that a dirty martini is an abomination unto the lordā€¦
I also do not partake of a vodka ā€œmartiniā€ other than a Vesper.
But here goesā€¦
Are you making it with a commercial Olive Brine or the brine from the jar?
You will not get a consistent product until you use this instead of jar brine. My suggestion would be to prepare 3 identical drinks then use different measures from the olive brine. Then taste each one. When i make volume drinks or multiples i use a scale and a tare between each addition. I get the perfect measure of gin to vermouth. I can eyeball my preferred 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 ratio but doing it in volume is too difficult.

BTW, i do love a spot of orange bittersā€¦

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I find that the main problem with vodka martinis in general, is their total lack of gin. [wink.gif]

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Considering the definition of Vodka is a colorless flavorless spiritā€¦ I guess one must put something in it. neener

A new drink, The Salty Russian (Pole, Frenchman, Swede) - Take 2 ounces of Vodka pour over ice, shake the shit out of it. Pour into a Glass and add flakes of Sea Salt to float on top.

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The other thing I thought of is ice. Bar ice is different than home ice. How much dilution are you getting? Is your vodka sitting out at room temp, your vermouth is presumable in the fridge. At the bar, most vermouth is stored at room temp because they go through so much volume.
I might be able to get my hands on my sonā€™s roommate experiments on drink dilution. He used some of the med school equipment to run a series of tests on drink dilution with different ice and methods. Very interesting data points.

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Hahaā€¦I assumed the end of this was going to be ā€œpouring into a glass, then dump down the drainā€.

I know this is thread drift and there is a whole thread on vodkas, but while this may be the definition of vodka, it has little to do with reality. Vodka is certainly not flavorless. Pour Ketel One, Chopin, Grey Goose, and Ciroc over a cube of ice and let folks try them blind. Each has a distinct flavor.

But itā€™s all shite compared to gin, especially in a martini!

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Vodka blows. Basically the only ā€˜unregulatedā€™ spirit in terms of what it can be made of.

Switch to gin. Thereā€™s no such thing as a ā€˜vodka martiniā€™ - itā€™s just ā€˜vodka, dry, up, in a martini glassā€™ neener

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Seconded [snort.gif] . The other fail IMHO is the choice of olives. I always use vermouth-brined ā€œMartini Styleā€ olives. Currently the open jar is from the Olive Pit in Corning, California (ā€œThe Olive Cityā€) from our last trip down I-5, which could be described as an olive-oriented agritainment business. Mezzetta is a national brand available at many supermarkets and has vermouth brined olives, too. I have been very happy (too happy? [wow.gif] ) with using brine from either of these olives in a dirty Martini. I also feel strongly [soap.gif] that vermouth choice (as an ingredient) is important and usually have Dolin dry French vermouth on hand, along with some others for variety. Our house gin is just Bombay Sapphire, and the price is right at any California Costco (also from the last trip down I-5; due to Oregon being a ā€œliquor controlā€ state, liquor can only be purchased, usually at exorbitant prices, through Oregon Liquor Control Commission approved stores, not grocery or warehouse stores [swearing.gif] )

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Okay. I trust this thread. Is to OK to do a dirty martini with gin, or is that sacrilege?

No, no, not sacrilege, a well made dirty gin martini is a sacrament! [worship.gif] Or at least it is for me - but it is true there are some people who just donā€™t like gin, and Iā€™m married to one. Weā€™re well stocked up on Camā€™s Cougar Juice for her [give_heart.gif].

N.B., there is a well established cocktail called a ā€œPerfect Martiniā€, most recipes call for for both sweet and dry vermouth, but that one isnā€™t for me. To each his ownā€¦ā€¦

Cheers!

And, I have to put a plug in for my favorite ā€œfreeā€ cocktail and bartending website, Diffordā€™s Guide, which has very well researched histories of the evolution of the Martini and just about any other cocktail: Martini History

Thanks for the link to this site. Well written content. Regardless of your misguided opinion about the dirty martini. If i wanted to drink Bay water, I would head to the bay and dunk my head in it.
However, I do like just the hint of salinity that the brine that naturally clings to the olive adds.

Well, moderation in all things, including moderation when appropriate - some of us have a higher brine tolerance than others. I think the vermouth brine from Martini olives is better than regular Spanish olives - however adding salt to cocktails intentionally is also a thing nowadays, and overpriced salt water as a cocktail ingredient is available for purchase rolleyes Search cocktails and cocktail Recipes with.

Some friends from the South Oregon coast came up today bearing frozen King salmon steaks and very fresh Umpqua bay oysters they picked up on the way. While the salmon defrosted, we shucked the oysters then washed them down with house recipe gin dirty Martinis. Thatā€™s Blue juice (Bombay sapphire gin), Dolin dry vermouth, garnished with a vermouth brined Martini olive and, yes, a little brine added to the shaker. It complemented the saltiness of the oysters perfectly and there were no complaints since my gin despising wife was happy with her Chardonnay.

She might not despise gin so much if you ditched the Bombay Sapphire!

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Thatā€™s the light weight version, just put the bottle in the freezer and serve in frozen glasses.

One vesper ingredient Kina Lillet hasnā€™t been available for decades:

BS is awful stuff.

Well, thereā€™s no accounting for taste. For instance, some people actually like Hendrickā€™s [barf1.gif]. I have tried a lot of gins and actually prefer the Blue Juice in a Martini, Tanqueray for a G&T which are also easy on the wallet. My daughter prefers our local Northwest Heritage Elk Rider gin for a G&T, but has not reached the age of appreciating Martinis, and her mother never will.

to quote Thomas Pynchon:

The Ballad of Tantivy Mucker-Maffick

ā€œOh, Italian gin is a motherā€™s curse,
And the beer of France is septic,
Drinking Bourbon in Spain is the lonely domain
Of the saint and the epileptic.ā€

Gravityā€™s Rainbow, p. 191.
[snort.gif]