Right then folks, you’ve had a day to assemble the bottles we’ll be needing for the prep for the upcoming #MasterofCocktails – This is really the ‘Christmas Panacea’ you’ve been dreaming of.
If you’re anything like me, there’ll be a seemingly endless procession of loved-ones throughout the Christmas period and ‘another Baileys’ only works so far. So – we’re going to make ourselves a cask of Martinez. Because, well, you know… Stir, strain and serve rocks.
Now – I’ve cheated a bit here, and taken a 1-litre oak cask and pre-seasoned it with Vodka. It’s been pre-seasoned, as the oak-influence of a new cask would totally overwhelm a subtle cocktail. The vodka’s been in there for a few days, at room-temperature. Time to empty it.
The colour of this after only a wee while is staggering:
As you can see, those casks are a *generous* 1 litres. We’ll need to build accordingly:
So – I’m going to be making a 2:1 Martinez – I reckon this is a decent compromise between the original, and ‘new’ recipe. I mentioned that there was a great degree of latitude here with gin and vermouth choices. I’ll just tell you what I’m going with, but bear in mind this is tuned to my personal tastes of course.
If you need a refresher, here’s what I’m going to be using…
We’ll be needing these…
List of Ingredients
- A One Litre American White Oak Toasted Barrel
- 280ml of Martini Gran Lusso
- 120ml of Sacred Spiced English Vermouth
- 320ml of Ransom Old Tom Gin
- 80ml of FEW American Gin
- 400ml of Tanqueray No. Ten
- 100ml of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
- 15ml of Dr Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters
Right then. I reckon the cask probably held about 1.4 litres when filled to the top, so I’m going to base my recipe on that. I’m going to start from the bottom up on this one, just to make sure I don’t skimp on the bitters or Maraschino owing to imprecise measurements. First up, 15ml of Dr Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters.
Next, Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur. 100ml.
At this point, or shortly hereafter, you’re going to get an urge to add some ‘other stuff’ to the cask. Citrus peel for example. Cherries. All sorts. STOP. Give yourself a dry slap, and carry on. Fresh ingredients in casks, not so much. Add them at the end. That way, they’ll be, you know, ‘fresh’.
So now I’m going to add the Vermouth portion of the blend. I reckon about 400ml is right. I’m going to use 70:30 Gran Lusso:Sacred.
Now the gin. I’ve got three here. FEW American, Ransom Old Tom, and Tanqueray No. Ten.
I’m going 50:40:10 Tanqueray:Ransom:FEW. I want big cardamommy-goodness from the Ransom, the smooth citrus from the Tanqueray and the dirty-whitedog-richness from the FEW. The sum is much greater than the parts here.
So. I’m building to 800ml of Gin. Here goes.
Okay – I’m a bit shy of the top here. Need to add something…
Monkey 47 Dry Gin…why not… It is Christmas after all…
Done. Full.
Bung goes in the top, then leave it alone until next week…
(Using the power of time travel, we can see how you’ll want to go about serving your Cask-Aged Martinez right here.)
Ben
Noel Symons