Not long ago while on travel I stopped in at a fine restaurant for a ‘nite cap’ on my way ‘home’, i.e., the current hotel.\u00a0 I ordered my usual dry Sapphire martini.<\/p>\n
The bartender took a stem from the freezer and placed in on the bar.\u00a0 Next he took a metal shaker, put ice in it, and then poured in the gin.\u00a0 Finally instead of putting the top on the shaker he took out a long stirring spoon.\u00a0 At this point I thought he was going to stir the drink.\u00a0 Not a problem, I always let the local barkeep make the Martini at his discretion.\u00a0 At least the first one.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
To my amusement and surprise he proceed to pound the ice with the spoon.\u00a0 Sort of like a muddler with mint for a Mojito, but with much more enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
When he served the martini I jokingly asked if that was considered “Shaken or Stirred”.\u00a0 He smiled and responded with “Well, more like smashed or crushed”.\u00a0 He went on to explain that this establishment liked to serve their Martinis with a thin layer of crushed ice on the surface of the drink and this was the best way to achieve that effect.\u00a0 I think he referred to it as the ‘ice rink’ style.<\/p>\n
Personally I don’t mind a few ice chips floating in the martini.\u00a0 Not sure about a full layer of chips though.\u00a0\u00a0 And I think you could easily do that with vigorously shaking the Martini as well.\u00a0 Having said that, the Martini was excellent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Not long ago while on travel I stopped in at a fine restaurant for a ‘nite cap’ on my way ‘home’, i.e., the current hotel.\u00a0 I ordered my usual dry Sapphire martini. The bartender took a stem from the freezer … Continue reading