The Right Way
(Martini/Drunken Archer)
Glass: Classic V-shaped, clear glass
Ingredients: 60 ml gin/vodka
10 ml extra dry vermouth/Archer’s peach schnapps
Garnish:
Green olives (stuffed, pickled in vermouth) / almonds
And Now, Fix It Right:
• Pack the martini glass with crushed ice. Remove the ice just before the drink is ready. Or pre-chill in the fridge.
• Fill the shaker three-fourth with ice cubes.
• Pour in gin/vodka and vermouth (Archer's for Drunken Archer).
• Stir (preferably) or shake (if you insist) and strain into the chilled glass.
• Spear an olive or three onto a cocktail stick and down into the glass (throw in 2 almonds for the DA).
• Drink. Ah, bliss.

Why The Fascination?
Women and martinis seem to fit just so because:
• Of the sleek glass, the perfect angle, the power.
• Of mystery, romance, excitement, danger... It says a woman can be any of these if she so desires:
• The moll in a mafia den...
• The corporate lioness...
• The social bee...
• The mystery diva...
• The die hard glamour puss

Martini Cheat Sheet
• For really dry martinis, cut the vermouth.
• Want extra dry? Pour the vermouth over ice in shaker, stir it around, then throw out the vermouth. Add some more ice to the vermouth-flavoured shaker, pour the spirit and continue doing what you want.
• Really dry (A Naked Martini): Lots of spirit, no vermouth.
• To chill the glass right — pack with ice. Tip: Keep the gin/vodka in the freezer at all times. Put ice in the shaker first, everything else over it. The level of liquids poured at all times should be lower than that of the ice. It insulates the drink, makes it ice cold with negligible dilution.
• Gin brands to use: Gordon's, Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater; Tanqueray, Gilbey's, Seagram's.
• Vodka brands to use: Grey Goose, Belveder, Smirnoff, Absolut, Stolichnaya, Skyy.
• Vermouth brands (dry) to use: Noilly Prat, Cinzano, Martini & Rossi.
• If you can’t find dry vermouth, use dry white wine and use a stirrer dipped in some Campari.
• For flavoured martinis: Add liqueurs to the gin /vodka in place of the vermouth. Use flavoured vodkas generously for a full flavour; a splash for just a hint.

Martini Magic
• James Bond branded it. President Kennedy to Franklin D Roosevelt loved it too.
• James Bond was the human embodiment of the Martini. Bond was reckless with his women, rough on enemy agents, but extremely precise about his cocktail, asking it to be, "large, with vodka, not gin". And more precisely, "shaken and not stirred".
• Richard Nixon, who liked his about seven to one, reportedly was drinking Martinis the night the Watergate crisis broke upon him.
• Ernest Hemingway liked his ratio of gin to vermouth at 15 to 1.
• W C Fields started the day with two double Martinis.
• H L Mencken described it as "The only American invention as perfect as a sonnet".