Vodka Martini

There is nothing I like more than simply sitting around sipping cocktails and what cocktail is more classic and classy than the martini? Unfortunately I could never drink them because I'm not a huge fan of olives until I found out that some people drink them with a twist of lemon, people like James Bond no less.  I was drinking such a martini at this black tie thing I went to with my dad when this photographer compared me to James Bond, very proud of that.  But I digress... Anyhoo, with a cocktail this simple it's the little details that matter, like using good vodka.  Now you can fix not-so-good vodka by running it through a brits pitcher a few times but just go out and buy some tito's, it's worth it.  The bitters aren't very standard (but nowadays neither is the vermouth, most bars where I order a vodka martini end up serving me a cold glass of vodka), but apparently in the 1800's bitters were a standard part of a martini and I like to really drive the lemon part home.

3 oz tito's vodka

1 oz dry vermouth

1 dash fee brothers lemon bitters (optional)

lemon zest twist to garnish plus more

1. place a martini/cocktail glass in the freezer to chill the glass. this isn't necessary if you're serving it on the rocks, but half the fun of drinking a martini is it looking like a martini which means serving it straight up

2. fill a cocktail shaker with ice and the vermouth, shake to coat the ice and then dump out the excess vermouth. I don't like my martinis too dry so I don't try too hard to get all the vermouth out.

3. add in the vodka and the bitters if using, shake for 15-30 seconds and pour into the chilled glass. now if you wanted to make a standard martini, you would just switch the vodka out for gin. I'd stir the gin one instead of shake it though; shaking makes a drink much colder than stirring, and gin shouldn't be served that cold.

4. to form the garnish, harvest the zest from a lemon with a vegetable peeler, you're looking to get it about 2 1/2 inches long. try not to get too much of the white pith (if you do get some you can scrap it off with a knife or just leave it, it's not a big deal). use a pair of kitchen shear or a knife to cut it into a strip let's say 3/16 of an inch wide or so.  then wrap the strip around a chopstick or narrow handle of a wooden spoon to make it a spiral.

5. the final touch, take the scraps of lemon zest and either bruise them by twisting them to get the essential oils flowing or if you are doing this in front of your friends and wanna get fancy, hold the lemon peel up to a lighter for a few seconds, and rub the oils around the inside of the rim of the glass so when you take a sip you get hit with the lovely aroma of lemon.