Martini Lexicon

If you have always wanted to march on up to the bar, and rattle out your such and such martini, done this way and that, we help out with the lexicon. My man, you too can make music with your cocktail banter.

We’re talking about the martini. In your hands, an ongoing stream of words fly through the air, ricocheting off people and objects like the crazy chirping of millions of birds. Your martini domain can be mod, boy-gone-bad, Tiki or fussy. This is your call.

Bitters
This potion is the product of hundreds of plants and herbs. Use bitters to flavour cocktail, but in moderation, please, as too much, as you can imagine, will ruin the drink.

Dirty
A dirty martini has a little touch of olive juice added to the drink, clouding it slightly.

Dry
A Dry Martini is one with a very small amount of vermouth. As more vermouth is added, the Martini becomes "wetter".

Let Stand
Just that. Pour all ingredients in to a shaker with cracked ice, let it sit. But don’t shake - just let it stand for a minute. Then strain contents.

Muddling
Using a Mortar and Pestle, usually made of wood or porcelain to crush and mix ingredients in a shaker. Not all too popular in the Martini world.

Part
This one is important, as recipes on Martiniboys refer to this “part” business. A part isn’t a fixed amount. It is in relation to the other parts (ingredients) in the drink. For example, if a recipe calls for 2-part X and 4 parts Y, then you can deduct that Y is twice the amount as X. You can make the drink as big as you want!

Rinse
Many recipes call for a glass to be "rinsed" with a particular liqueur, such as vermouth. This means that you need to place a small amount of the liqueur in your glass and swirl it around so that the inside of the glass is coated evenly. Pour out, then pour in drink ingredients.

Scoring
A score is a very long twist, of lime, lemonm or orange ideally 2 to 3 inches long, a great garnish for a gin or vodka martini. A score of citrus dangling over the lip of a glass is a nice touch

Shake
Two schools of thought on mixing the drink. Shaken or stirred. If you go the shaken route, really shake the thing, and get it out of the shaker fast.

Shaker
Stainless steel or glass container filled with liqueur and ice. This is the vessel of which you will do your shaking, usually in two pieces.

Stir
This is the other school of thought when it comes to mixing a drink. Basically, you add your ingredients into an ice filled pitcher of some sort and stir. Stir gently, or if in a cocktail shaker, rock gently.

Straight Up
A Straight Up (or just Up) drink has no ice. Really the opposite of "On the Rocks"

Strainer
A device that fits onto the top of a tumbler and allows you to pour the liquid into a glass, while keeping the ice behind. Cool concept, eh!

Twist
A twist is a garnish made from the rind of a lemon, orange or lime (usually a lemon).

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