Are you kidding? A Gin ‘n’Tonic Martini?
To explore new worlds,
To seek out new life and civilizations,
To go where no man has gone before.
First, I am not on a five year mission. I was just looking to finish off a bottle of Tanqueray Rangpur Gin.
Second, and this must be understood if you go further in this brief essay, I am a committed Martini traditionalist. This most classic of cocktails is made with gin and, at your discretion, varying smidgens of dry vermouth. The choice of swapping vodka for gin, even with the endorsement of James Bond, is the path to perdition. It’s the slippery slope that brings us to Chocolatini, Espressotini, Fruit-Bombatini and other offensive departures from the genuine article.
This, if you didn’t know, is to give folks the opportunity to sip a friendly, less lethal, more appealing (?) concoction from an “up” glass (aka, martini glass) to add, perhaps, a veneer of sophistication to their cocktail choice. Sorry, it’s simply weak camouflage for a drink with training wheels.
Third, in my years past, I consumed countless gin ‘n’ tonics, particularly during the warm weather months. PRO TIP: the most important ingredient in a G&T is the tonic. The next most important ingredient is a plump fresh lime. Gin is the side show, which is why you don’t have to invest in a fancy shmancy gin to make a great drink – with one exception, which we will return to anon. And then there is this piece of good news: a restaurant or bar will never (NEVER, EVER) make a G&T as good as the one you make in your home! Why? Because there is no tonic from a soda gun that can come close to the fresh taste and effervescence of a newly opened bottle of top quality tonic that you get at your Stop & Shop!! Buy the small bottles.
The recipe for a gin ‘n’ tonic is simple. Put ice into a highball glass, add a jigger of gin (1½oz), top with tonic, squeeze a wedge of lime into the glass, rim the glass with the lime & drop the lime into the glass. But, with no more effort you can substitute a “nothing” gin for Tanqueray Rangpur gin. This fancy shmancy gin is actually worth it. It’s a lime infused gin that makes so much sense for this cocktail.
We finally return to the matter at hand. What would happen if we engineer a hybrid of a classic martini with a pedestrian, tasty but still pedestrian, gin ‘n’ tonic? I devised an experimental recipe: 2 jiggers of Rangpur Gin, 1 jigger of tonic put into a mixing tin with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously with a solemnity of purpose. Strain into a pre-frozen up glass. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lime, rim the glass with the lime, plop lime into the glass.
As I saw things, there were three possible outcomes for this brave new departure where no man has gone before.
One, fail. It ruined a gin ‘n’ tonic, and it ruined a martini.
Two, Winner winner, chicken dinner. Unqualified success
Three, Interesting. Sorta like hearing your blind date has a good personality.
OK. I think I may give this another shot later in the warm weather season, when I might be drinking a gin ‘n’ tonic anyway.
Oh, before I leave. I went on a blind date once, and the friend who made the intro never once mentioned Sandy’s personality. Although she did say she was from Brooklyn.
The fixin’s
My sacred mixing “tin”
Richard Parker, my man frog, serves up the finished product
for a more detailed treatise on my Martini experience http://summerofjim.com/?p=110700