For absolute purists, the bottle of gin, the mixing glass, and the vermouth are all at room temperature prior to mixing. This is so a small quantity of cold water is diluted into the drink when the ingredients are stirred with ice. This infusion of water particularly brings out the floral notes of juniper, gin's primary flavoring ingredient. The dilution of the cocktail also brightens the flavors, opens the nose, and allows more delicate notes to blossom on the palate. Unfortunately, many bartenders now store their gin and mixing glass in a freezer, which results in a blunter, more one-dimensional drink with an oily, soft texture. As far as frozen implements go, it is acceptable to cocktail purists[who?] to pour a martini into a frozen cocktail glass, as, by this point in the drink-making process, the dilution has already taken place.
W. Somerset Maugham declared that "martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other," James Bond from the Albert R. Broccoli films ordered his "shaken, not stirred", a departure from the default and properly called a Bradford.(Embury 1948, p. 101) The concept of "bruising the gin" as a result of shaking a martini is an oft-debated topic. The term comes from an older argument over whether or not to bruise the mint in preparing a mint julep, and with gin refers to a certain bitterness developed by shaking. A shaken martini is different from stirred for a few reasons. The shaking action breaks up the ice and adds more water, slightly weakening the drink but also altering the taste. Some would say the shaken martini has a "more rounded" taste.[citation needed] Others, usually citing obscure scientific studies, say that shaking causes more of a certain class of molecules (aldehydes) to bond with oxygen, resulting in a "sharper" taste.[citation needed] Shaking also adds tiny air bubbles and ice particles, which can lead to a cloudy drink instead of a clear one. If the drink is used as an aperitif, to cleanse the mouth before eating, the tiny air bubbles restrict the gin (or vodka) from reaching all tastebuds.[citation needed] This is why purists would claim that a martini should always be stirred. Some martini devotees believe the vermouth is more evenly distributed by shaking, which can alter the flavor and texture of the beverage as well. Recent medical research has shown that shaken martinis have a slightly higher antioxidant level than those stirred, though the exact mechanism for this was not derived.[8] In some places, a shaken martini is referred to as a "martini James Bond" or a "007"[citation needed]—Fleming actually named Bond's drink the "Vesper", after the heroine of the first novel Casino Royale, though it is a specific recipe using gin, vodka, and Lillet.[9]
Shaken and stirred Martinis were taste-tested side-by-side on a 2008 episode of Mythbusters. All of the testers noticed a difference in taste between the two methods. Although they were not blindfolded, the drinks were allowed to sit so that there would be no visual difference between them.
Some references[10] also cite a classic difference in the fundamental recipe of the drink. While the modern martini uses very little Vermouth in relation to Gin or Vodka - it is documented that pre-prohibition martinis were equal parts Gin and Vermouth. The abundance of "dry" Vermouth, and not the absence of vermouth, is said to be the origin of the drink's name.
- wiki
32 Comments
RKWWinston Churchill legendarily made a martini by pouring a glass of Gin and taking a glance at a bottle of vermouth, or letting the sun shine through the bottle of vermouth onto the glass of gin.
residueUh..If you let a bunch of ice melt in one and not the other one, of course it will taste different..
BicycleRepairMan>> ^residue:
Uh..If you let a bunch of ice melt in one and not the other one, of course it will taste different..
Yup, they should have sifted out the ice, and it would be a more fair test. Or at least done both the melting and the sifting.
jimnmsBut James Bond orders a vodka martini, I wonder if the results would be the same.
jimnmsWas this some unaired portion because I don't remember this from the James Bond specials?
deadgoonNow I'm all thirsty.
KerotanIn the books, Bond says stirred not shaken, because at the end of day of shooting at villains and henchman, he is stirred by the events of the day, but not shaken.
(allegedly)
gorillamanSpeaking of anal, this whole test is void because they're not tasting real martinis, which must have an odd number of olives.
ReverendTed>> ^gorillaman:
Speaking of anal, this whole test is void because they're not tasting real martinis, which must have an odd number of olives.
But two is an odd number of olives for a martini.
Thumpersays...>> ^BicycleRepairMan:
>> ^residue:
Uh..If you let a bunch of ice melt in one and not the other one, of course it will taste different..
Yup, they should have sifted out the ice, and it would be a more fair test. Or at least done both the melting and the sifting.
I'm guessing they just made the shaken one first - then as the ice is basically melted made the stirred one. This way they both are about the same temperature.
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)
>> ^RKW:
Winston Churchill legendarily made a martini by pouring a glass of Gin and taking a glance at a bottle of vermouth, or letting the sun shine through the bottle of vermouth onto the glass of gin.
Sounds like a homeopathic cocktail.
direpickle^That's the Desert Dry Martini. Gin, and then you introduce the vermouth to it without actually putting any in.
ThrobbinThis thread fucken rocks!
nach0ssays...I've been working on my martini skills over the last couple of weeks since Mad Men has started back up.
Aniatariosays...Ahh Kari Byron *sigh*
handmethekeysyousays...To quote Josiah Bartlett, "Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it."
garmachi>> ^ReverendTed:
>> ^gorillaman:
Speaking of anal, this whole test is void because they're not tasting real martinis, which must have an odd number of olives.
But two is an odd number of olives for a martini.
This is the driest martini joke I've ever heard.
ReverendTed>> ^garmachi:
This is the driest martini joke I've ever heard.
With the possible exception of that one.
Truckchase>> ^garmachi:
>> ^ReverendTed:
>> ^gorillaman:
Speaking of anal, this whole test is void because they're not tasting real martinis, which must have an odd number of olives.
But two is an odd number of olives for a martini.
This is the driest martini joke I've ever heard.
Indeed; quite a fine one he served up.
Winstonfield_Pennypackersays...I love the Mythbusters, but this clip only serves to remind me of my love/hate affair with the DVD releases of the show.
I started off buying a couple of those 'collection' DVDs, even though I loathe random collections of episodes on DVD. But that's all they had at the time. Oh well. Then Discover started releasing season collections and I was like, "Yay!" But then I quickly learned that the season releases did not contain the 3 pilot episodes, or ANY of the 'specials' that were released such as Mega Movie Myths and so forth. Some of those specials are on the collection sets - a fact that fills me with blind, liquid fury. Further adding to my irritation, seasons 1 and 4 are shipped out in those nasty bigger clamshell dvd cases while seasons 2, 3, and 5 were released in the newer, thinner cases.
Needless to say - the DVD releases of Mythbusters have been a fiasco. I hope at some point they release a 'season' that includes all the episodes they SHOULD have included in the boxed season sets.
rychan>> ^BicycleRepairMan:
>> ^residue:
Uh..If you let a bunch of ice melt in one and not the other one, of course it will taste different..
Yup, they should have sifted out the ice, and it would be a more fair test. Or at least done both the melting and the sifting.
Why? They made the martini's faithfully. If the difference between a shaken and stirred martini is that one is watered down, that's difference enough.
I guess people were expecting some more subtle mechanism, which might also be interesting to look for, but this result is unambiguously enough to confirm the difference between shaken and stirred martinis. If you want to test the difference between a stirred martini and a sifted, shaken martini then have at it. I'd be interested to see the results.
videosiftbannedmeI never could get into gin. Always felt like I was drinking a pine tree.
relliksays...The problem with this is that they let the ice melt. If you drink it right away, the martini is not diluted.
I agree that the ice should be sifted. Since the debate seems to be the act of shaking...
Shaken martini stays cold longer too.
messengerNo kidding, letting ice melt in a drink will make it weaker. What we should be testing is the "bruising" of the gin, and all the stuff people are snooty about.
Sift out the ice.
pipp3355logged in just to point out that this experiment is fundamentally flawed in several ways. i couldn't be arsed listing all of them but the two most basic are ridiculously small sample size and experimenter bias (not double blind).
xxovercastxx>> ^pipp3355:
logged in just to point out that this experiment is fundamentally flawed in several ways. i couldn't be arsed listing all of them but the two most basic are ridiculously small sample size and experimenter bias (not double blind).
That this was a flawed experiment was obvious to me before I even pressed play. After all, it says "Mythbusters" right in the title.
kingmobsays...True
the original title of the show was
"Non-scientific experiments that may amuse you"
but the marketing people wouldn't have that.
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