BartendersTour.blogspot.com

The martini is a fairly universal cocktail. It has three basic ingredients (Gin/Vodka, vermouth, garnish), but the way it is made seems to differ throughout the world. Given that there are only two base liquors, and dry vermouth, the primary differentiator is the garnish. A few years ago I was sitting in the Barcelona Restaurant in Stamford, Connecticut, and the bartender used olives with a slightly smokey taste, made in-house. In turn, I’ve been in bars where bleu cheese- or garlic-stuffed olives were the standard. In other places you'll find the common unstuffed and even pimento-stuffed olives -- it really depends upon the lead bartender and how they want to approach the drink. And that's just the olives. The difference in garnishes may be subtle (the above mentioned ranged of olives), or they may be profound such as using a lemon twist versus an olive, or rosemary sprig versus a lemon twist. To me it's whether you're drinking a regular martini with gin, or a vodka ...