<p>My neighbors bring us a sampling of their homemade gloegg (I didn’t know that’s how it was spelled) every Christmas morning. Mmmm. Yum.</p>
<p>Now, off to the liquor cabinet. It’s very fancy, aka “on top of the refrigerator”. I wonder if I can make that “flirtini” with ginger ale, in the absence of champagne? My drink of choice lately has been:</p>
<p>1 oz (or maybe more) Absolut Raspberry
1 oz (or maybe more) Absolut aPeach
Newman’s Own Lemonade
splash of crystal light raspberry ice</p>
<p>Add a cherry or whatever fruit is on hand, a straw, a little umbrella…then pretend it’s not 20 degrees out. If you wanna get really tropical, add a splash of coconut rum, Mon.</p>
<p>A martini, it is not. I don’t think a blue cheese stuffed olive would go well in that one.</p>
<p>Am I missing out? I’ve never had a Martini in my life. I’m glad all of you enjoy them but I’ll continue to refrain. Given that, maybe each of you can have one extra on my behalf.</p>
<p>I was a bartender in grad school(right here in LA). I would make a martini with one part gin and just wave a closed bottle of vermouth over the gin. Customers invariably said that I put “just the right amount of vermouth” in my martinis.
New gin love: <a href=“http://www.stgeorgespirits.com/gin/[/url]”>www.stgeorgespirits.com/gin/</a>
ESPECIALLY the Botanivore (so tasty it’s like a whole 'nother animal)</p>
<p>GA2012MOM, I’m not sure if it’s a greater concern that you’re checking CC or daydreaming about breakfast martinis while driving I-75. Eyes back on the road and we’ll ask Patsmom to pull together the other ingredients for tomorrow morning’s eye-opener while I run out for the Cointreau. :)</p>
<p>Sop14’s, after posting on this thread last night, I started to wonder how Sapphire is rated among gins. I googled and found a website that is a consensus of other ratings from spirit-rating sites. I looked at the gin ratings and saw that Hendrick’s was not only the highest-rated gin, but had the highest numerical rating of any spirit. I’d never heard of it before, and now I’ve heard about it twice in 24 hours!</p>
<p>Just to address those questions a few posts up–I believe adding an “e” after a vowel is equivalent to the umlaut for English keyboards. And yes–no recent gloegg-related catastrophes, but we had some great stories growing up. (For those not familiar, for this drink you mix red wine and vodka, add orange peel, cloves, figs, raisins, almonds, cardamom seeds, cinnamon sticks, then heat, set on fire, and pour through sugar cubes to caramelize the sugar. Tastes wonderful but is also quite fun to make.) There was the year the pot imploded after we put the lid back on to kill the fire. And the year my mom used a not-very-high-quality sieve to pour the flaming liquid through. Melted the sieve. And several eensy weensy kitchen fires. (I swear!)</p>
<p>A warning for anyone who’s considering trying this–I always tell first-timers not to inhale while drinking the hot liquid. Unless, I guess, your sinuses are clogged or something.</p>
<p>Will look for Blue Coat, now that my Thanksgiving guests finished off the “cheapo” Tanquerey. Though I usually switch to single malt Scotch for the winter, which is certainly no cheaper. Thanks, qdogpa.</p>
<p>I believe my neighbor’s recipe includes grain alcohol as well…my mouth is watering just thinking about it (and so are my eyes, and my nose……oh yum)</p>
<p>I gotta tell ya–nothing tastes better about 5:00 PM on a really cold winter day, especially when you’ve spent some time outside. (You always serve it hot, with extra raisins and almonds, plus Swedish ginger snaps on the side.)</p>
<p>Raisins and almonds in your cocktail? With all due respect,i would pass…nothing like a bourbon Manhattan on a cold winter evening or a single malt scotch…nothing fruity,nutty,creamy…just liquor… ;)</p>
<p>Well this is served hot and I must say there’s not much better than the raisins after the drink is done. All plump and warm and infused with deliciousness. Nature’s candy indeed.</p>
<p>*I was a bartender in grad school(right here in LA). I would make a martini with one part gin and just wave a closed bottle of vermouth over the gin. *</p>
<p>This is how my dad likes his martini. He orders a martini “with no vermouth.” :)</p>
<p>I’m a scotch girl myself - Johnny Walker Black.</p>
<p>Okay - all you sly Vermouth bashers out there – knock it off! If you want to drink chilled Gin, fine. Gin is good. Mrs. Kluge is particularly fond of Bombay Sapphire on the rocks. It’s all good. (Hey - you can even drink chilled Vodka if you like. Knock yourselves out.)</p>
<p>But don’t call it a Martini. Please.</p>
<p>And don’t make up cute ways to justify calling chilled Gin a Martini. If there’s no Vermouth in it, it isn’t a Martini. It’s just Gin. Gin is a perfectly good, and accurate, name for what you’re drinking. There’s no need to appropriate (and debase) the name of a different cocktail just because it sounds cooler than what you prefer to drink.</p>
<p>I think you can tell that you’ve got my dander up, now. :)</p>
<p>When I first started making martinis, I was told that 5:1 was the “proper” martini. After a while, I transitioned to 4:1. Then I thought “these things ought to be smoother” so I began experimenting. My martini is now 2.5 :1 - excellent.</p>