Hello and happy Thursday, readers!

In the past, our #tbt cocktails have covered everything from tropical tiki drinks, to South American classics, to some truly classic American cocktails. But this week we are getting just about as traditional, as classic, and as perfect as you can get.

That’s right, it’s time for a martini, everyone.

In the world of martini-making, there is a lot of debate, variations, and entrenched views about gin vs. vodka, shaking vs. stirring, olive vs. onion vs. twist, dirty, dry and on and on and on. Now, although we think most of our recommendations for the perfect martini can be taken and applied to other combinations than the one we are about to explain, we should get some things straight right up top:

1. James Bond was right, and we are staunch fans of shaken, not stirred Martinis.
2. We believe that there is no better garnish for a Martini than an olive, lemon twists and tiny weird onions be damned.
3. We prefer our Martinis balanced, not too wet or too dry.
4. Vodka. Not gin. Deal with it.

Alright, now that that is out of the way, lets get on to the recipe, shall we?

Please note: there is a little bit of prep that goes into our Martini, because we like to hand-stuff our olives. It makes them delicious, but it does take a little extra time. You have been warned.

So, for The Woman At The Bar Martini, you will need:

• 3 oz vodka
• 1 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• Garlic clove stuffed olives, plus juice
• Blu Cheese

When we mentioned up top that we like our Martinis balanced, we mean that we prefer to use the traditional 2:1 vodka to vermouth ratio. This principle works no matter how big or small the Martini is that you are making, so feel free to make a larger or smaller version, just keep the proportions the same.

 

Gather all of your ingredients plus a knife, cocktail shaker, jiggers, and martini glass.

First, fill your martini glass with ice and set aside to chill.

Now, lets get these olives done! Please note that no matter what variation of martini you are  a fan of, this garnish will be delicious. We invite you to use this section of the recipe, even if you buck the rest.

First things first, it is considered bad luck to use an even number of olives in a cocktail, so depending on your preference either pull out 1 or 3 olives from your container. We always prefer to get the fresh(er) olives from the self-serve bars at grocery stores rather than those that come in jars.

Carefully remove the garlic clove from each olive, revealing the center well.

“But wait,” we can hear you saying, “Why did we get garlic-stuffed olives if we are not using the garlic? Are you insane?” No, we are not insane. The garlic has already done its job infusing the olive with its flavor, and now we are about to kick it into overdrive. Have faith, everyone.

 

Now gather small amounts of your blu cheese, and work it into the center of the olives.

See, was that so hard? No, of course it wasn’t. Now set those aside, and lets get down to some liquor-y business.

Measure out 3 oz of vodka (as always, we prefer Chopin), and pour it into your shaker glass.

Follow that up with 1 1/2 oz dry vermouth.

Now fill your shaker tin 2/3 full of ice, pour in your ingredients, attach your shaker glass, and shake shake shake for 30-60 seconds.

Now remove the ice from your martini glass, and strain that perfection in there!

Now add your olives. You can just drop them directly into the glass, but we prefer to skewer them on a toothpick of some sort to make them easier to get to.

And there you have it! Just about as classic as it gets, right?

Now sit back, pretend you are in an episode of Mad Men, and enjoy.

Cheers, everyone!