Michael Leu, "Very Dry Martini on a Summer Evening"
 
   
   


 
The Lore and Lure of the Martini


Photo by Emese Gaal

My Introduction to the Martini
A cool evening on San Diego bay, the breeze gently moving across the upper deck of the cruise ship. The lights on the shoreline twinkling and reflected in the dark waters as we sail back and forth while enjoying dinner and drinks. This was the setting for my introduction to the Martini.

My first martini was a Cosmopolitan. This pink concoction was sublime, subtle and refreshingly potent. The year was 1999. My coconspirator and mentor in this process of discovery was none other than my partner-in-passion, collaborator and aficionado of single malt scotch, Biscuit Wev.

The next stage of my enlightenment was to have a Dry Martini at the Yacht Club of the San Diego Marriott. I remember the ice-cold liquid with sublime fragrance slipping down my throat, making me feel warm and a little giddy. The first one was followed by a second. When I ordered the third Biscuit put me on the bridle and kept me from making a fool of myself, again. Biscuit's advice: two are fabulous, three are disaster! Well said!

The final experience on this trip of discovery was at a restaurant called Juniper that specialized in Martini's along the waterfront in Seaport Village. I remember having a Martini made with a gin that emphasized juniper as the prime botanical (name forgotten). Dinner that night was with John Cole and David Froome, both of the UK, the Wev's (Biscuit and Petey), and Diane and David.

 

Heretofore I had regarded the Martini as an astringent, stinging, straight-liqour drink, devoid of real flavor. I was wrong. From this point on I have enjoyed an occasional Martini (or three), and have experimented with mixing my own (with guidance from the Master - Biscuit).
 

site updated March 2006

 

 

  

"Shaken, not stirred."
- James Bond
 

“One martini is alright, two is too many, three is not enough.”
- James Thurber
 

"America's lethal weapon"
- Nikita Kruschev
 

"Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously on top of one another."

-- W. Somerset Mougham
 

"Happiness is finding two olives in your martini when you're hungry."
-- Johnny Carson, 1960
 

"I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini."

- Attributed to Alexander Woollcott, Charles Butterworth, Charles Brackett, and Mae West, and claimed by Bennett Cerf

 
 
 

   

"There's something about a Martini,
A tingle remarkably pleasant;
A yellow, a mellow Martini;
I wish I had one at the present.
There's something about a Martini,
Ere the dining and dancing begin,
And to tell you the truth.
It's not the vermouth,
I think that perhaps it's the gin."
-- "A Drink With Something In It" by Ogden Nash