- 2 months ago
This week, LBF and Dave raise a glass to LBF’s birthday with a timeless classic—the gin martini. 🎉 She’s getting a tini bit older, and this cocktail is all style, no nonsense. Cold, crisp, and dangerously smooth—just like the birthday girl herself.
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Dave's not ready.
00:02I have no makeup on, just so you know,
00:05because you know what?
00:06I'm brave.
00:08I'm a brave woman.
00:10You're beautiful.
00:12Oh, that's what I like to hear.
00:15Well, I mean, you are makeup.
00:18I don't understand.
00:20Here is the latest episode of Bottoms Up.
00:25Yes.
00:25And in honor of my birthday, which is Sunday,
00:30I decided that we should do some version of a martini
00:34because I'm a teeny bit older.
00:39Oh, my God.
00:45Yes.
00:46I see what you did there.
00:47Yeah, okay.
00:48So what are we going to do?
00:49A teeny bit older.
00:51Can I just say, I love a gin martini.
00:55I love a vodka martini.
00:57I love a Vesper martini.
01:00I love all the teeny-teenies.
01:02I love big teenies, little teenies, teeny-teenies.
01:05All kinds of teenies.
01:06Can I just go on a quick tangent real quick?
01:08And I don't mean to insult nobody.
01:10Okay.
01:10Because I don't want to insult nobody.
01:12All right.
01:12But martinis to me, a martini to me, is, is, is, is, uh, what's another word for special?
01:24Just use the word that comes to mind.
01:26We're not that old.
01:26They're young.
01:27I'm a teeny bit older.
01:28I'm not a thesaurus.
01:29So, and again, I don't want to insult nobody, but if you go to a bar and you ask your bartender
01:38for a vodka martini with no vermouth, it's not a martini.
01:48It's not a martini.
01:50You know what it is?
01:51It's a, thank you, thank you, wait.
01:54It's a, it's a cold glass of vodka.
01:56That's what it is.
01:56You might as well just get a glass with ice and pour some vodka in and drink it.
02:00It's the same thing.
02:01Right.
02:02Like so.
02:02So a martini, traditionally, and I know today, yes, you can ask for a vodka martini.
02:08A martini, traditionally, is made with gin.
02:11I happen to have Bombay Sapphire here today, and this is, this is my ultimate accomplishment.
02:20I mean, like, beyond getting married, beyond having kids.
02:23This tiny little plastic trophy was given to me, handed to me by none other than the great
02:31Jackson Cannon.
02:32Because I, I took, this was many, many, many years ago.
02:36I took a cocktail class, um, at the old, his old, uh, Hawthorne, the Hawthorne in Kenmore
02:42Square, and, um, we were doing rounds of, uh, martinis, and I won best martini.
02:49You did.
02:49You won best martini.
02:50Ta-da.
02:51Anyway.
02:52All right.
02:52Make, make this one.
02:54So we're going to make a real martini or a traditional martini.
02:58We're going to use gin.
02:59And yes, a martini has vermouth.
03:02Um, the reason it's called, uh, I'm not even going to get into that, but this is dry
03:08vermouth, which means it's, it's white and people tend to be, uh, turned off.
03:13I was just about to say something filthy, but go ahead.
03:18Well.
03:18Go ahead.
03:19Just, hey.
03:21Does it even.
03:22People tend to be turned off by vermouth.
03:24I don't know why vermouth.
03:26There are lots of wine drinkers out there.
03:28Vermouth, the base of vermouth is white wine, white wine.
03:31And then it's got a bunch of other stuff in there, uh, you know, botanicals and things
03:35like that.
03:36Um, I happen to like, there's, there's all kinds of, there's, there's red vermouth too,
03:41sweet vermouth.
03:42Um, uh, and the original martini called the Martinez was actually made with red vermouth,
03:47but I can go on a tangent here and Lauren's going to hit me.
03:52Um, uh, so don't be scared by vermouth.
03:56It's really, I happen to like Dolan.
03:57This is Dolan, uh, vermouth.
04:00You'll, you'll see Martini Rossi.
04:01You'll see, uh, Noyli Pratt.
04:04Dolan is my favorite.
04:05It's, um, uh, they all have a little different flavor, flavor profile, but Dolan's is kind
04:10of, uh, maybe a little, uh, lighter, almost refreshing in a way.
04:14Um, because it's really, it's, it's an energy drink.
04:17It's clean.
04:18It's good, clean.
04:18Okay.
04:19Okay.
04:20So, uh, so please, a martini is made with gin.
04:24I know, traditionally, I happen to occasionally.
04:27Listen, you can do you.
04:28All right.
04:29But like, if you're just going to order a traditional martini, just do it with gin.
04:33But most people don't like gin.
04:34You want to know why?
04:35Because most people have had gin at a young age and then they puked it up and then they're
04:39like, I don't drink gin anymore.
04:41It makes me sick.
04:42And it's like, try it again.
04:43You know, I mean, I puked up clam chowder at Friendly's once and I love clam chowder
04:48now, so don't let a puke scare you away from something good.
04:54Never.
04:55Never.
04:55Go back.
04:57We're going to make a wet martini.
04:59And what a wet martini is, as opposed to a dry martini, these days, these days, a dry
05:05martini, again, means the less vermouth you use, the drier it is.
05:09It's not, that's not really the case because it's actually called dry vermouth.
05:14So there's vermouth in it.
05:15But anyway, a wet martini has more vermouth in the drink.
05:20It's going to be awkward when you say to the bartender, I want a martini and make it wet.
05:25But get over it.
05:26That's what I say.
05:28Any, any bartender worth her weight will know exactly what you mean, that, that you want
05:33some extra, extra vermouth.
05:36You know who loves this martini?
05:38Sabrina Carpenter.
05:41Oh boy.
05:42I'm just getting my, uh, my beaker here because, and again, uh, here's the other thing.
05:48Yes, martinis are stirred, not shaken.
05:52And LBF, no, it's not because we don't want to bruise the gin because that sounds ridiculous
05:59and coity-toity and snobbish.
06:01It just gets too watered down.
06:02Exactly.
06:03Because when you shake a drink, you're introducing a lot of extra air and a lot more water.
06:08And it defeats its own purpose.
06:10It defeats its own purpose.
06:12Because this has no juice in it.
06:14This is all booze.
06:16And so you want to stir it.
06:18So there's as much booze as possible.
06:21To maintain the integrity of the drink.
06:24Okay.
06:25Okay.
06:26So we're going to, uh, um, I didn't get my, uh, little beakers, but here, we'll do it this way.
06:32We have so much crap in the...
06:33Because, and I like the, I like, I like these kinds because it, see that?
06:38Isn't that nice?
06:39That's nice.
06:40Isn't that a nice sound?
06:40It's nice filling it.
06:41Okay.
06:42So to do a wet martini, usually a, a, a regular martini or what you might call a dry martini
06:48is a five, like two and a half ounces of gin and a half ounce of vermouth.
06:53It's like a five to one ratio.
06:55A wet martini.
06:58We're going to up the ante here.
06:59We're going to do two ounces of gin.
07:02See.
07:03See what I'm talking about.
07:05And we're going to do one ounce.
07:08Don't go crazy now.
07:10We're going to do one ounce.
07:13Why are you yelling?
07:14And we talked about this last time.
07:16So it's.
07:17I'm a loud talker.
07:18No, no, no.
07:19I think it's because you're from a theater family and it's like a sing-out Louise situation.
07:23That has a microphone that picks up your voice.
07:28You don't have to sing to the background.
07:29I want everyone to see that I'm now pouring one ounce of vermouth.
07:35And so we have a two to one ratio here.
07:39Lots of vermouth.
07:41It's delicious.
07:42Don't you worry.
07:43And you know what we're going to do?
07:45I brought along some orange bitters because this is how I.
07:48Where's that trophy?
07:49This is how I won my award.
07:52Yes, you put in the orange bitters.
07:54Put in one, two, let's do three.
07:58Because it kind of, as the drinker of these drinks, it kind of cuts down on the jet fuel
08:03sort of notion of a martini.
08:05It gives it a nice, yeah.
08:08It just gives it a nice.
08:09Well, now we're going to add the ice, which means we're going to melt some water into this.
08:18Put hair on my chest.
08:19We're going to melt some water into this crazy concoction.
08:22And again, we're going to stir it.
08:25This is the best stirrer, by the way.
08:27Don't use it.
08:28You know what I usually use for a stirrer when I stir the stuff?
08:32Sometimes I just use this when it's on my head.
08:35I've seen you do that.
08:36And I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, this needs to be a little mixed more.
08:38And that's what I do.
08:39And don't be shy with the ice.
08:41Don't be.
08:41Don't.
08:41We get it nice and cold.
08:43Don't.
08:43And here, I don't know how our setup is here, but you can see.
08:47Yeah, you can do it.
08:48You can see it.
08:49Hold it up a little bit.
08:50I'll hold it up.
08:51Yeah.
08:51So you want to, so the bar spoon is a precisely designed tool.
08:58And you'll see it has that nice rounded back and it has this swizzle section because the
09:02old-fashioned swizzle strength.
09:04But you want to put the rounded back of that spoon against the side of the glass, okay?
09:11Between the ice and the cup.
09:14And you're going to hold it kind of like a, what would you hold a fancy, I don't know.
09:18I don't know.
09:19And what's going to happen is see how you can all rinse out.
09:24And you, well, it is.
09:27Oh, yeah.
09:28I don't know.
09:29I mean.
09:31Whatever.
09:32Anyway, keep going.
09:33I'll do it.
09:35You're all on the wrist.
09:37And so what happens is you see how that just glides around the outside and see that ice
09:44go.
09:45Yeah.
09:45See it.
09:45And what we're doing is we're slowly introducing water into this drink to find all of the gin
09:51and the vermouth together.
09:53So it will go down my throat and into my throat.
09:56And what I forgot to do, too, is you always want to chill your glass.
10:00Yeah.
10:01So we'll just pretend that that was chilling for a while.
10:05Okay.
10:05Because a cold glass is important, especially when you have a drink that's up.
10:10Yeah, because then it doesn't get warm now.
10:11It stays colder for a longer period of time.
10:14It doesn't need to be for me because I just...
10:16So we're going to stir that, you know, until it feels good, nice and cold.
10:22Well, I usually stir 20 to 30 seconds just to make it really sort of smooth and...
10:30And stirred.
10:31And stirred.
10:32And so, and what's going to happen is...
10:35I'm going to drink it.
10:37We're going to get rid of that ice.
10:39We have a nice cold glass.
10:40And there are two different kind of strainers, by the way.
10:43This is known as a Hawthorne strainer, which we're not going to use.
10:45Oh, how come?
10:47Because we're going to use the julep strainer.
10:49You see that one?
10:50Yeah, yeah, from a mint julep.
10:52Yeah, I think, you know, the story is...
10:54I don't like it.
10:55Because a julep...
10:56Quickly, because this is fun.
10:58A julep is kind of a...
10:59It has a lot going on.
11:01There's a lot of ice and stems of things hanging.
11:05And it gets in the way.
11:06You can't drink it.
11:07So they actually...
11:08This is a little story.
11:09I don't know if it's true.
11:10They invented this thing.
11:12So when you drink your julep, you put this in and keep everything aside.
11:17And it allows you to drink it.
11:18Anyway, so this is a julep strainer.
11:21And what we're going to do is...
11:22Now watch this.
11:23Watch this.
11:24You're going to put it in here.
11:26And then you're just going to pour...
11:29Watch.
11:29Can you see that silky ribbon?
11:32Oh, yeah.
11:32It really is, actually.
11:33Can you see that?
11:34See how it just kind of moves?
11:36And it's like a beautiful, silky ribbon of gin and vermouth.
11:43Look at that.
11:45And we're going to...
11:46You know, you could...
11:48Some people like olives.
11:49Look.
11:51Olives.
11:52We're going to do...
11:53I don't want to do olives.
11:54By the way, if you ever want to get the greatest food cheese and olives ever,
11:58go to Ward's Berry Farm in Sharon.
12:01I was there today and I didn't pick them up.
12:02But they're so good.
12:04They're like fresh and delicious.
12:05They are the best blue cheese olive I've ever had.
12:08Five stars in my life.
12:09Okay.
12:10LVF likes a twist.
12:12Yes, I do.
12:12A lemon twist.
12:13So we got our peeler and we're going to take a swath off.
12:16And I like to do it over the drink because we talked about this last week.
12:20The oil from that lemon kind of goes right.
12:24And then when you have the swath, you want to squeeze that over the drink again.
12:28And that oil sprays right across the top.
12:30You can see it hit the surface.
12:31Yeah.
12:32Beautiful thing.
12:32And if you so choose, you can sort of put some on the rim there.
12:39Oh, wow.
12:39Jeez.
12:39My God.
12:40Okay.
12:40And then, of course, I like to cut this and make it nice.
12:45You made it nice.
12:46Dorinda.
12:47You made it nice.
12:48I'm going to cut that.
12:50And then you have a nice piece here.
12:52And then you twist it.
12:54They're a little trick.
12:55Sometimes you can roll it around the spoon.
12:58But you really don't need to do that.
12:59You twist that over there again to a nice curl and you drop it in for your twist.
13:04Look at that.
13:05This is a beautiful wet martini.
13:08Yeah.
13:08This is my favorite part.
13:09Now, tell me, how do you feel about all that vermouth in there, Albia?
13:13This is my favorite part.
13:15Dave stops talking and I start drinking.
13:17All right.
13:20Let me tell you.
13:21He's always talking.
13:26Well.
13:27It's so good with the vermouth because here's the thing.
13:30Give vermouth a try.
13:32Yeah.
13:33Because it just makes it smoother.
13:34You know, like most people will take a sip of a regular martini and then they feel like
13:38they've just had gasoline, but this makes it that, it's that vermouth, that wine and botanicals
13:44that make it really delicious.
13:46So here we are.
13:47And here I am.
13:48Right.
13:49So true.
13:50A teeny bit older.
13:51Oh, it's still beautiful.
13:53Oh, you have no makeup.
13:54Bottoms up.
13:55Bottoms up, Albia.
13:56Happy birthday.
13:59I've been wearing this outfit all day, by the way.
14:01I got some accessories.
14:05Cherry.
14:06Nice.
14:08Anthropology.
14:09Way too expensive.
14:11Yeah.
14:11I don't even want to talk about it.
14:13It's basically expensive paperweight.
14:19You know, switch this up.
14:20Like, I love the blue lobster because it's kind of symbolic.
14:24It's rare.
14:25But I think we should put, like, drink theme there because this doesn't, you know, doesn't
14:35make sense.
14:37I need, like, boozy.
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