One bourbon, one scotch…
| 28 May, 2010 | Richard P. Grant |
19
|
|
Culture doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
When we go to art galleries or see plays or listen to music, we invariably do it in the company of other people. We will often have dinner or a drink before, after, or even during the performance (whether in the interval or not).
Art abhors a vacuum
And not much improves an evening at home curled up on the sofa with a good book more than a perfect martini (half a capful of Martini Rossi Extra Dry; a generous measure of Stoli straight from the freezer; stirred anti-clockwise with three olives and a dribble of brine).
That carefully precise recipe comes out of years of experimentation
|
|
previous post
I was under the impression that the quality of vodka mostly came from trace impurities (or the lack thereof.) I guess I don’t know the research field that well, but I’m skeptical as to whether this is more informative than characterizing the various non-ethanol, non-water trace compounds in different varieties of vodka, which would themselves affect the formation of hydrates.
Also (if hanging out with vodka-martini drinking friends qualifies me to know what I’m talking about at all) it seems that the difference between shaken and stirred is mostly in how watered-down the drink gets. When you shake it, you chip the ice and add a lot of energy to the system, making it melt more (personally, I like them on the rocks, which a lot of martini-drinkers think is anathema.) In any case, it seems unlikely to me that shaking it would actually affect the structure of the ethanol hydrates in water for more than a few microseconds after you stopped.
Hi Mike
thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I can’t get at the original paper; for all I know the authors do discuss that very point (which I was also pondering myself). I don’t actually know anything about the structure of hydrates, so I’ll bow to your knowledge. It would be an easy enough experiment to do, methinks, and maybe we should approach the authors?
I’d also heard that one about ice, and it does seem to make a lot of sense
I am a neuroscientist, so this is not my field, but it seems that there may be important differences in the degree to which the martini is chilled when either stirring or shaking (especially if vigorously shaken). Differences in temperature, even relatively small, may result in significant differences in taste. In addition, I was taught that drinks that are meant to be clear (which would include martinis) should never be shaken; the bubbles/gas resulting from shaking may also alter the flavor.
Good point about the temperature making a difference to the taste, Dave. I wonder if bubbles really do make a difference? Is that because we can taste the air? Or maybe it changes the pH and we notice that?
I am not sure if the bubbles really make a difference, or if it is only an urban legend. It seems to me that bubbles would make a larger difference to the pH of water than to alcohol. However, it also seems that this is a topic worthy of some significant empirical investigation this evening …
Dave
Indeed. Please do report back your findings–with pictures.
Vigorously shaken martinis can have a “cloudiness” to them when first poured out (more dissolved air in there?) That’s not the case with stirred, of even “chopped” martinis. While the cloudiness is a big turn-off for some, shaken cocktails always seem to be colder.
The “differences” of vodkas is the number of times they are distilled. As Mike Mike stated it is the lack of impurities (fusel oil, by products of the fermentation – http://www.google.com/webhp?rls=ig#rls=ig&hl=en&source=hp&q=fusel+oil&aq=0s&aqi=g-s1g-sx8g-msx1&aql=&oq ) the make the better vodka. Majorska is one of the lowest rated and the smell alone should help you make up your mind. The top end vodkas claim to be distilled 3, 4 or 5 time and would seem to be near equal. The sometimes bar practice of serving the cold at near ice temperature serves to kill the taste and smell. Absolute ethanol (200 proof) mixed with distilled/deionized water to 80 or 100 proof would make the perfect vodka – no impurities just the “heat” from dehydration the burn of high proof straight liquors.
Have any of you heard of the homeopathy practitioner who died of an overdose?
He forgot to take his medication
Hey! That’s my joke 🙂
My peferance for shaken martinis lies in the lovely small ice chips that result from the vigorous shaking of ice cubes in a metal shaker.
I must disagree on several counts. First, THE martini is made with gin, not vodka. My preference is 4 oz of a good gin, and two capfuls of Noilly Prat French vermouth, shaken, but not too much. The vermouth actually makes the martini, not the gin. As for vodkas, my wife and I did a blind taste test of three of them and did find reproducible, but subtle differences in taste. In the shaking vs. stirred controversy, the difference is unlikely to be differences in temperature but rather differences in the amount of oxidation caused by the admixture of the drink and oxygen in the air. Finally, tequila and vodka are best sipped at freezer temperature, but not scotch or bourbon.
Courtesy of our lush sales folks, I was invited to a vodka tasting event. I always thought vodka was really something you should clean stuff with (and sorry, I really don’t like Stoli), but after trying a bunch of these things, from France to Russia to everywhere in between, the one that came out on top was Tito’s Handmade.
And, every one of the vodkas was different – even though there shouldn’t have been much difference between them chemically. I wonder if that isn’t it – because they are so similar chemically, everything else gets magnified…
Anyhow, no matter how much I like Tito’s, a martini for me is Bombay Sapphire, wave the vermouth in the general direction of the glass, and lots of groceries (olives, of course).
Oh, and stirred or shaken, I don’t care – just pour me another!
Quoting Bob Hurst (see above), the key words should be:
“blind” (tasting, not going… afterwards), “differences” and “subtle”.
One word I miss, though, is “sake” (for comparative studies).
I always thought that quality in vodka means just purity, i.e. absence of taste, smell, whatever. In Russia they gulp it down real fast to avoid smelling or tasting anything. Well. I am a non-vodka drinking Russian…
A Russian friend of mine once told me, (you’ll have to imagine her slight accent yourself), “Russians don’t f*** with vermouth”.
Hello, I am not a scientist nor a big drinker but I do love the taste of a well-crafted beverage. I would argue that the air bubbles in a drink make a difference because they lack a taste…so you get a building of flavour as the bubble dissipate against the tongue. Carbonated water in other mixed drinks provides a similar effect but with the added bonus of a physical sensation.
And…Mr. Bob Hurst…I take exception to your freezing tequila. Aztec gods and goddesses should have triangulated your position by now ;
No, I only chill light liquors such as vodka or tequila. Now, let me say, the complexities of tequilas (and I agree with you about them) are brought out by taking the small sip of chilled tequila into the front of the mouth and letting it warm on the tongue. As it warms, the subtle flavorings are released in a way that does not occur when it is sipped warm. No lime is taken with a good tequila.
I am a Civil Engineer and have to encounter building foundations on certain types of clay soil (Montmorillonite clay) where boxed-in water molecules lead to heavy swelling of the soil.
On the subject of alcohol and spectrograph, an incident is worthy of mentioning about Sir.C.V.Raman a Nobel Laureate) from India. When he was offered a toast by the King at the Nobel Award Ceremony, he declined the toast by saying that Raman