Noilly Prat
We usually reserve the Buy-Back column for companies who shell out big bucks for us to write advertorials for their products, but that's not the case in this issue. Although we have done paid work for Noilly Prat vermouth--2007 was the last occasion--we're handing this piece to them just because we love what they did for us. They brought their original French-formula dry vermouth to the U.S.A. so we can now savor the incredibly complex notes in this bottling, and make our Martinis the way they were meant to be made.
Last year Noilly Prat sent us a sample of their new "original formula" bottling, but that wasn't the first time we'd tasted it. We'd sampled this stuff when we visited the Noilly Pratt plant in France back in the 1990s, too. Why the hell can't we get this in the States? we asked. Je ne sais pas our delightful host explained.
Even the likes of William Somerset Maugham was enamored of the European bottling of Noilly Prat. In Points of View: Five Essays, a book that he wrote in the late fifties--at which point he was living in France so we presume he was using the European bottling--Maugham wrote "Noilly Prat is a necessary component of a dry martini."
And who's going to argue with the likes of Maugham, huh? Actually, we will. We have no idea what Maugham knew about making Martinis, and if he was making them like everyone else was making them at that time, he was probably using hardly any vermouth at all, so let's just disregard the Maugham thing, huh?
Now we're in the twenty-first century. We like this century. Everything old is new again, including the Dry Gin Martini which, thank God, is returning to its roots and being served with a decent amount of vermouth again. And, since we're making a fortune on our Regans' Orange Bitters No. 6, we're happy to report that today's cocktailian bartenders are calling for orange bitters in the Martinis, too. Just like they did in the early 1900s when the drink took center stage at every decent bar.
So, if you're still drinking straight gin and calling it a Martini, we will fight to the death for your right to do just that.
And if, for a change, you'd like to taste the drink the way it tasted in pre-prohibition times, we urge you to try the following formula:
Twenty-First Century Dry Gin Martini
2 parts gin*
1 to 2 parts Noilly Prat Original Formula dry vermouth
1 to 2 dashes orange bitters
1 olive or lemon twist, as garnish
Stir over ice and strain into a champagne coupe or a champagne flute or a water glass if that's all you have. Add the garnish.
*Use a forceful gin. You'll need something cheeky to go up against the N. P. vermouth. Junipero works very well, and if you don't have that bottling, make it with Beefeater or Tanqueray, or Bombay Sapphire or some other good, strong, highly perfumed bottling. Don't try this with G'Vine, ot the regular Bombay--they won't work well.
I've not tried Gary's recommended martini, but I will. Even though it contains French vermouth, it sounds like a nice alternative to my traditional, classic martini.
the old codger (who sincerely hopes there are people out there still reading this message board)
We usually reserve the Buy-Back column for companies who shell out big bucks for us to write advertorials for their products, but that's not the case in this issue. Although we have done paid work for Noilly Prat vermouth--2007 was the last occasion--we're handing this piece to them just because we love what they did for us. They brought their original French-formula dry vermouth to the U.S.A. so we can now savor the incredibly complex notes in this bottling, and make our Martinis the way they were meant to be made.
Last year Noilly Prat sent us a sample of their new "original formula" bottling, but that wasn't the first time we'd tasted it. We'd sampled this stuff when we visited the Noilly Pratt plant in France back in the 1990s, too. Why the hell can't we get this in the States? we asked. Je ne sais pas our delightful host explained.
Even the likes of William Somerset Maugham was enamored of the European bottling of Noilly Prat. In Points of View: Five Essays, a book that he wrote in the late fifties--at which point he was living in France so we presume he was using the European bottling--Maugham wrote "Noilly Prat is a necessary component of a dry martini."
And who's going to argue with the likes of Maugham, huh? Actually, we will. We have no idea what Maugham knew about making Martinis, and if he was making them like everyone else was making them at that time, he was probably using hardly any vermouth at all, so let's just disregard the Maugham thing, huh?
Now we're in the twenty-first century. We like this century. Everything old is new again, including the Dry Gin Martini which, thank God, is returning to its roots and being served with a decent amount of vermouth again. And, since we're making a fortune on our Regans' Orange Bitters No. 6, we're happy to report that today's cocktailian bartenders are calling for orange bitters in the Martinis, too. Just like they did in the early 1900s when the drink took center stage at every decent bar.
So, if you're still drinking straight gin and calling it a Martini, we will fight to the death for your right to do just that.
And if, for a change, you'd like to taste the drink the way it tasted in pre-prohibition times, we urge you to try the following formula:
Twenty-First Century Dry Gin Martini
2 parts gin*
1 to 2 parts Noilly Prat Original Formula dry vermouth
1 to 2 dashes orange bitters
1 olive or lemon twist, as garnish
Stir over ice and strain into a champagne coupe or a champagne flute or a water glass if that's all you have. Add the garnish.
*Use a forceful gin. You'll need something cheeky to go up against the N. P. vermouth. Junipero works very well, and if you don't have that bottling, make it with Beefeater or Tanqueray, or Bombay Sapphire or some other good, strong, highly perfumed bottling. Don't try this with G'Vine, ot the regular Bombay--they won't work well.
I've not tried Gary's recommended martini, but I will. Even though it contains French vermouth, it sounds like a nice alternative to my traditional, classic martini.
the old codger (who sincerely hopes there are people out there still reading this message board)
