Make a Bluespoon Martini at home + tips from Nontas!

Read on to discover how to make the perfect Martini at home. Assistant Bluespoon Bar Manager Nontas shares his recipe, as well as handy alternative tools in case you don’t have your own cocktail kit at home! 

Tools you will need:

• Mixing glass (a metallic vessel is recommended, to cool down the drink without unwanted dilution, however you can use anything from a metal tin to a large glass)
• Bar spoon (if you don’t have one, you can use a long and thin cooking spoon upside down)
• Jigger (if you don’t have one, you can use anything to measure the amount of liquid, from an egg cup or a small shot glass to a tablespoon; everything is fine because we can split any recipe into “parts”)
• A small  knife
• A strainer (if you don’t have one, you can just use a spoon, to hold the ice back, while pouring your cocktail into the glass).
• Finally, for your serving glass, a small coupette is recommended!

Alcohol & Garnish: You will need a London Dry gin (or any gin of your preference), dry vermouth, lemon or olives.

Step-by-Step:

• First of all, put your serving glass in the freeze.
• Fill up your mixing glass with 3/4 cubed ice.
• Add 1 part of dry vermouth (15 ml), followed by 4 parts of gin (60 ml).
• Regarding the ratio gin:vermouth, we recommend the 4:1 one, but feel free to adjust it, according to your preference.
• Hold the mixing glass with one hand and the bar spoon with the other one. Start stirring for about 30-45 seconds. The purpose of this gentle technique is to mix, dilute and chill the drink. You can check when it’s cold by the frost forming on your mixing tin. While stirring, you will gradually feel the drink getting colder. Ideally its temperature will go down to -2 degrees Celcius. Here is one tip: Martinis are always served cold!
• You can check the amount of dilution with a straw (better not plastic though). A generous amount of dilution (around 20%-30% of the final liquid) is what we want, in order to produce a balanced drink (neither too alcoholic nor watery).
• You should stop stirring when you taste and you can feel the gin, the vermouth and their aromatics highlighted pleasantly and harmoniously, without the feeling that alcohol is overpowering or lost. Just trust your palate and instinct!

To Serve: Take your serving glass out from the freezer. With the help of a strainer or the back of the spoon to keep back the ice, pour the drink slowly into your frozen glass. Garnish with an olive or a lemon peel. For the lemon peel, with a knife, cut a small lemon peel in the shape of a disc. Release the aromatic oils from the peel by twisting it over the surface of the drink and throw the peel into the drink itself.

Last step: enjoy your ice cold Martini!