He’s also done a lot of other things like climb big rocks, or drive over them in tatty Land Rovers, collect modern art and architecture, camp in a restored 1964 Airstream trailer, and raise three amazing boys. There may be things in these pages of interest to you.

Introduction

Mr. Lucky is wonderful. If you read his site, you’ll quickly move from hayseed to refined, urbane preparer and partaker of delightful libations. Having said that, there is one area where Mr. Lucky is just plain wrong. That area is the Martini. Mr. Lucky says there’s a fine drink made with Vodka that is not a Martini. I submit that the Perfect Martini would change his mind.

To call this my martini is unfair to Alessandro Palazzi of the Dukes Bar in London. If you consider yourself to be a connoisseur of the martini (and I mean the American martini–not that awful drink they have in Europe) and are ever in London, you simply must go to the Dukes and try it. At current exchange rates, it probably costs $50/glass, but it’s worth at least that.

My contribution to this little corner of mixology is better instructions on how to make it, and in a subsequent series of articles, how to get something very close to this drink anytime, anywhere, with improvised ingredients and tools.

Recipe for the Perfect Martini at Home

The key to a good recipe is good ingredients. Allessandro’s follows. Also note that successful outcomes are the result of careful planning and preparation. The Perfect Martini is no exception. The most certain way to make this martini is to use these ingredients stored in this way:

• Potocki Wodka stored in the freezer at -20 ºC (-4 ºF)
• Extra dry vermouth stored in the refrigerator
• Thick-skinned lemon
• Cocktail glasses–also stored in the freezer
• A potato peeler

When cocktail hour arrives:

1. Place the lemon and a potato peeler in the preparation area.
2. Remove the vermouth from the refrigerator.
3. Remove the vodka and glasses from the freezer.
4. Place a very small amount of vermouth (I use three drops) into the bottom of the glasses.
5. Pour the vodka in over the vermouth.
6. Using the potato peeler, take a 2 cm x 5 cm (.75 in x 2 in) peel off the lemon. Do this over the glass of vodka & vermouth–as close to the top of the glass as possible, without risking knocking over this fabulous elixir-in-the-making.
7. Express the oil from the peel into the drink-in-progress. Do this by rolling the lemon peel over the glass using your thumb against your index, middle, and ring fingers. Do this two ways: Once down the length of the peel, and once across the width.
8. Fold the peel down its length. Place it at the lip of the glass, and wipe it around the rim.
9. Toss the peel into the now-completed Perfect Martini.

There are a couple of quality checks you can perform. First, if the vodka is cold enough, the vermouth will have frozen. You can tell this by looking for little shards of frozen vermouth floating in the vodka. Second, this drink should smell like a lemon orchard if you got lemons in their proper state, peeled thickly enough and properly expressed the oil from the peel. The last check is that the lemon peel should have frozen solid. The recipient of this divine concoction should be able to remove it from the dring and clink it on the side of the glass. No clink means it’s too warm.

This drink goes very well with a mix of lightly-colored nuts like cashews and macadamias. Almonds are OK, but I think pecans are less desirable.

Notes

Vermouth: At the Dukes, they use three squirts from an atomizer filled with vermouth. I use an olive oil bottle with a rubber stopper from IKEA. I crack the stopper and shake the bottle three times over each glass. You could use an eye dropper, but…

Tools & Preparation: The Perfect Martini is an elegant drink. Don’t serve it in jelly-jar glasses. Don’t prepare it with crappy tools unless external circumstances require improvisation. I use an Oxo peeler. People enjoy watching the preparation of this delight. Give them a good show and look like a pro.

What’s Wrong with this Recipe?

The only problem with this recipe if you are at home occurs if your home is not in one of the places Potocki is available. If you can’t get Potocki, you need to know what makes it great. It’s a very pure, Polish rye vodka. Another Polish rye vodka is Belvedere. In future articles, I’ll go over other vodkas that make fine martinis, but remember, Potocki is the Real Deal.