LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2025

MARTINI MASTER CLASS

How Do You Like Your Martini?

Select Your Glass Chill martini glasses in the fridge or by filling with ice water before serving.

Must-know terms for ordering or preparing the perfect cocktail.

Up or On the Rocks An “up” cocktail is shaken or stirred with ice, then strained into a chilled, stemmed glass. Ordering “on the rocks” brings the drink over ice in a tumbler. Dirty A Dirty Martini is traditionally dosed with olive brine for a touch of golden colour and savoury taste. Modern substitutes: use dashi (Japanese broth) or spicy-hot brine, with a few flakes of salt or grains of MSG. Shaken or Stirred Martinis containing juices should be agitated in a cocktail shaker about 15 seconds then strained. The reward for stirring a classic Martini (spirit plus vermouth) over ice, for a minute or more, is silkier, rich texture. Dry, Wet or Perfect Even dry white vermouth has a bit of sweetness (Bianco-style vermouth is sweeter), so a Martini with more of it is “wet” and with less of it is “dry.” “Perfect” cocktails combine dry and sweet vermouth.

Choose the familiar, triangular martini glass, or hip miniature versions. Contemporary options, with narrower and deeper V-shapes, can be less tippy. Also trending are shallow coupe glasses in half-round or flat-bottom shapes. Stemless V-shaped glasses can create a stylish, bar-style serve when nestled in a bed of crushed or pebble ice.

Garnish Game If you’re entertaining, create a “garnish bar” with threaded picks resting on crushed ice.

Pickled Choose green olives (if not stuffed, then pitted) in brine, not oil; luxe Castelvetranos are buttery and bright green. Crunchy cornichons go with a sprig of dill. Pickled onions in a gin Martini make it a Gibson.

Citrus Use a sharp knife or peeler to cut a strip of lemon, orange or grapefruit peel. Twist over the cocktail to express the oils, then rub over the rim and drop in the drink.

Seafood Thread smoked oysters on a pick or serve a shucked raw bivalve on the side. Perch a little scoop of caviar on a mother-of-pearl or wooden spoon on the glass.

Veggies Hot or mild red chili peppers or a ribbon of mini-cucumber coiled in the glass or speared on a pick lend seasonal festive colour.

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———————— HOLIDAY 2025