Cocktail No 86 Martini on the Rocks

Slight spin on the classic. The traditional Martini is stirred or shaken on ice to chill it and the strained into a cocktail glass. The objective is to chill it rapidly and get it off the ice before it can melt and dilute the spirit. This version will get gradually diluted depending on how long you take to drink it.

Same flavour as the classic Martini, so look that up for tasting notes, but with the volume of vermouth this is very dry!

Recipe

2-3 ice cubes
50 ml Birkdale gin
5 ml Noily Prat (or any vermouth if you want it sweeter)
1 lemon slice

Put ice in small tumbler with gin and Noilly Prat. Stir. Garnish with lemon slice and stir.

Cocktail No 73 - Bleeding Heart Birkdale Gin Martini

Thinking ahead to Halloween and looking for ghoulish cocktails: enter the Bleeding Heart Birkdale Gin Martin - a classic dry martini, garnished with a pickled baby beet that "bleeds" from the wound caused by piercing it through with a cocktail spear.

The bleed develops with time and the drink gets increasingly blood red, assuming you take that long to drink it.

Birkdale Gin is an excellent base for a martini. Its clean and fresh and paired with the crispness and vitalising herbal brilliance of Noilly Prat, makes a perfect marriage. The pickled beet isn't noticeable until you get to the bottom of the glass where it comes through as an aftertaste. You can taste the beet, but not much of the vinigar used to pickle it, which is surprising. In the very last sip, the sweetness of the beet really came through, quite delightfully.

Here in the UK, Waitrose is the only place where I have found pickled baby beets on sale.

All good fun in the name of gore & horror.

Recipe

3 parts Birkdale Gin
1 part Dry Vermouth (preferably Noilly Prat).

Shake on ice until very cold, add to martini glass. Garnish with pickled baby beet, pierced through with a cocktail spear.

Cocktail No 57 - Martini Dry

OK its been a while, but a new chapter has opened - we are going to have a run of classic gin cocktails made with my very own Birkdale Gin - a highly aromatic gin that is going down a storm in the locality.

We start with the absolute classic - the Dry Martini or Martini Dry.

First sip and I am slightly lost for words - in a good way. This one is a little drier than I would normally make and I am glad it is as the vermouth is still quite dominant. I couldn't get Noilly Prat, so unsure if that would make a difference. The first flavour is definitely the taste of the herbs in the vermouth. I little fire from the spirit is followed by the complexity of the gin coming through. I used a twist of orange peel instead of lemon, based on others tasting observations.

The gin is very powerful and aromatic. It works, but its not your classic dry Martini taste, where the gin is so clean its almost invisible. Birkdale Gin definitely makes its presence known.

I think its a hit.

Update - turns out I did not look hard enough and the Wine Rack did have Noilly Prat in stock, so had a re-run. It does make a difference. It's a lot cleaner than the supermarket dry vermouth which was all I had yesterday. Initially there is no taste - just a chill in the mouth and throat. After a few seconds, a warmth spreads across the top palate. The very first sip had a dominance of the vermouth, but after a few more sips, it falls very much into the background and the gin comes forward, with a herbal topnote. It still will not please those who favour the classic London Dry Martini's, but there is a complexity which makes it interesting and worth sampling.

I still think it is a hit.

Recipe

5 parts Birkdale Gin
1 part dry vermouth

Add to cocktail shaker and shake over ice. Pour into martini glass. Add twist of orange or lemon peel. Serve

Cocktail No 46 Ray Long

I haven't uncovered the origins of this one and the Savoy Cocktail book from 1930 gives a different ratio of Brandy to Vermouth. My recipe has more Vermouth and the Savoy more Brandy. It also looks like the original called for Absinthe. Mine substitutes Pernod, because Absinthe was a banned drink when it was published (I've had the Cocktail book close to 30 years now).

So mine is quite a mild cocktail in alcohol terms. Some Brandy diluted with Vermouth. Its a beautiful hazel colour. It only has a teaspoon of Pernod, but it carries through so strongly - great if you are an aniseed fan.

First impressions is the chill of the drink, followed by a blast of aniseed at the back of the mouth with that typical warming of the Brandy spreading. Lastly, the herbs from the Vermouth and the Angostura Bitters creeps through leaving a tingle and slight fell of a film on the teeth.

That's a rather nice drink! Not sure why its int he wine based section, especially if the original had more Brandy than Vermouth.

Recipe

Add 3 ice cubes to a mixing glass with 1 measure of Bianco Vermouth, 3/4 measure of Brandy. 1 teaspoon Pernod (or Absinthe) and a dash of Angostura Bitters. Stir and strain into a cocktail glass.

Cocktail No 6 Havana Club

Getting back to the classics, which to be honest is the majority of cocktails that I drink.

Havana Club - how to describe it - the molasses from the rum gives a great warm under belly to this drink. I used spiced rum, which gives an extra kick whilst the original calls for white rum.

The rosso vermouth has a strong flavour so be gentle on the measure. It provides a complexity of flavour from all the herbs and aromatics - too much will create bitterness and cloying sweetness. The ratio of 2:1 is about right IMHO.

Shame I have run out of rum - a second one would be most welcome. This one is a keeper in my books.

Recipe

Add 2 measures of White Rum and 1 measure of Rosso Vermouth to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Decorate with a cocktail cherry on a stick.