Wet Martini

Oh dear sweet, classic martini. We've had quite a go of it: me hating you, you getting me too drunk. They certainly have been classic times, but now we've come to the end. The wet martini is the last variation on the classic martini in my little black book. And after all the fun, I've finally come to appreciate the combination of vermouth and vodka.

A friend of mine described enjoying martinis because they taste "clean" which I laughed about at the time. Now, I have to agree - there's a purity to the taste of a martini. I think I might order this at a bar sometime.

1 1/2 ounces gin or vodka

1 1/2 ounces dry vermouth

-Stir with ice cubes and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

In other news, I just finished reading the play for which my blog is named: Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill. I enjoyed it, and didn't realize when I named my blog how appropriate the title would be. They drink like crazy throughout the entire thing, so I think I might have a whiskey rocks at the end of the project in acknowledgment of the namesake.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Affinity Cocktail

Okay, so this drink happened as part of a string of drinks that involved Scotch, most of which were my own improvisations. I seem to remember enjoying it, but I was enjoying everything at that point. Cut to my drinking buddy and I playing Mariokart and talking about politics until 5AM -- it was spring forward too, so just about the worst weekend for screwing up your sleep schedule.

1 ounce Scotch

3/4 ounce dry vermouth

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

2-3 dashes bitters

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Martinez

I'm sorry to be such a cocktail failure, but all I remember about the martinez is that it tasted slightly better than I expected. I'm not even going to make anything up. I'll just pack it in and do better next time.

3/4 ounces gin

3/4 ounces dry vermouth

1/2 ounce Cointreau

Dash of bitters

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Tequini

Do you want to do shots of tequila while pretending to be classy? Have a tequini. There's a little bit of vermouth (that is almost completely overshadowed by the tequila), but otherwise there's not much difference between this drink and taking a swig from the bottle.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing...I've certainly had much much much worse drinks throughout this project. The downside: I had one tequini and a glass of wine and woke up with a legit hangover the next day. I'm not one to be felled by only two drinks, but I didn't get out of bed until 11 and felt like crap for several more hours. Beware is all I'm saying. Here at LYJIA, we (I) promote functional alcoholism ;-)

1 1/2 ounce tequila

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Also thanks to a new blog by my lovely friend Alex (read it!), and a potential new blog from El (who's still working out the details), I've been reinvigorated with drink project enthusiasm! (Also I had enough money to actually go to the liquor store and buy some new stuff). Get ready to hear about some fantastic new drinks, and hopefully the halfway point in the project!

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Dry Martini/Dirty Martini

Finally! A way to have a martini that isn't completely awful! I decided since I have several versions of a basic martini left to do (they just have different ratios of gin/vodka to vermouth), I would try some of the variations that they list that aren't part of my required drinking. This strategy was effective, so go me!

A dirty martini is just a regular martini with a bit of olive brine splashed in. I used more than a splash of brine because I really didn't want to taste much martini. It sounds like a weird combo, but the brine mostly just makes it less strong tasting and a little bit salty. Not a drink I would really care to order at a bar and pay $6 for, but I drank most of it and didn't have to make a face with every sip. So there you go, my recommendation if you have to have a basic martini is to get a dirty martini.

Dry Martini:

2 1/2 ounces gin

1/3 ounce dry vermouth

-Stir with ice cubes and strain into cocktail glass.

For Dirty Martini:

add up to 1/2 ounce olive brine.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Perfect Manhattan

I don't remember what I said about the original version of the manhattan (I could just look it up but this is my second post today and I really can't be assed), but I can't imagine it was a glowing review. Maybe if I had better whiskey I would be okay with this, but I'm just really not. It left a bad aftertaste in the back of my throat, and the during-taste wasn't so hot either. I know this is one of those classic manly drinks (see martini, old fashioned), but I guess I just not classic or manly.

I keep thinking that I'm going to make myself like these kinds of drinks in the same way it took a couple of times drinking coffee before I liked it (she says with a cup of coffee nestled snug in the lapels of her robe, using it to keep herself warm -- see pocket cup). I just don't know that it's going to happen, unfortunately.

1 1/2 ounce blended whiskey

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce dry vermouth

dash of bitters

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass or on the rocks.

I'm dragging a little bit on this project because all the drinks I can make with my current ingredients sound either a) terrible or b) like a less exciting version of something I've already had. Oh well. Hopefully I'll be able to afford something new soon.

Until then, enjoy and bottoms up!

Medium Martini

Ugh, it's official: I don't like martinis. Vodka martinis are only marginally offensive, but proper gin martinis are terrible. I don't know why anyone would choose to drink this if it weren't part of a year-long cocktail project.

I had this one after watching the Ducks beat the Beavers to go to the Rose Bowl!!! I was also celebrating my first day of training for my new job!! However, every time I took a sip, I made a reflexive "ick" face and it left a really bad taste in the back of my throat. I still have several versions of the classic martini to go, and I'm not particularly looking forward to it.

What I am looking forward to: people coming back for winter break! First up? Game night at my parents' house among their Christmas decor!

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Algonquin

My drink for night one of house sitting for my parents was an unusual one: I don't know why anyone would think to put these flavors together. It seems like an end of the night drink, when you only have a little bit of several random alcohols/mixers but you don't even care because you've had so much to drink you won't taste it anyway. What's really impressive is that someone had that moment and still remembered the recipe the next day:

2 ounces blended whiskey

1 ounce dry vermouth

1 ounce pineapple juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Now, the first sip I was a little unsure, but I actually ended up enjoying this one. I didn't have to grimace or make strange noises in order to get it down at all. It is weird, no doubts there. I don't know how to tell you what it tastes like, other than weirdly pleasant. It's a nice change of pace: I feel like I've been having a lot of lime or cough syrup, lime or cough syrup. The algonquin was a nice little surprise.

Enjoy and bottoms up!