Keeping with the style and sophistication of the Classic Martini, GREY GOOSE Vodka has forged an exclusive partnership with Baccarat. The world-class manufacturer of fine crystal glassware has teamed up with GREY GOOSE to create a custom crystal martini kit, offering consumers a truly unique luxury experience and the opportunity to craft their own stirred, not shaken, GREY GOOSE Classic Martini at home. Presented in a beautiful stainless steel case, the set will be available in limited quantities via Gilt City this holiday season (kicks off Cyber Monday). Each kit includes a branded aluminum case, two Baccarat Vega branded martini glasses, two GREY GOOSE olive picks, one Cocktail Kingdom Hoffman Bar Spoon, one Cocktail Kingdom Leopold Jigger, one Cocktail Kingdom AG Hawthorne strainer and one stainless steel mixing cup. Everything you need to be the ideal mixologist (see below for GREY GOOSE Brand Master, Jason Druckenmiller’s tips to making the perfect martini).
This limited edition kit will only be available for sale from 12/2-12/9 at Gilt City for $475.
THE MARTINI
The experts at GREY GOOSE Vodka demonstrate the elegance and simplicity of the cocktail with the perfect vodka martini, The GREY GOOSE Classic Martini. The Martini brings to mind a sense of style and sophistication and GREY GOOSE upholds these high standards by combining passion with the purest spring water, highest-quality winter wheat and a distinct distilling process to create a smooth taste and truly exceptional spirit.
The perfect vodka martini should always be stirred NEVER shaken. Stirring produces a more delicate texture, while shaking creates a haziness. “When you shake a martini with ice it gives the vodka a grainy texture because of the air and ice crystals that are introduced, as opposed to a silky texture when simply stirred with ice,” says GREY GOOSE Brand Master, Jason Druckenmiller. “Stirring creates less dilution and will chill the Martini down just as good as shaking, leaving the crisp taste of GREY GOOSE Vodka with undertones of Noilly Prat Extra Dry Vermouth.”
Similar to fine wine, there is an optimal temperature at which to serve a martini. The experts at GREY GOOSE suggest serving at 38° F. Liquids have different tastes and sensations when at different temperatures. The higher the temperature, the more easily the volatile flavor components evaporate from the surface of a drink. A shot of frozen vodka not only has a completely different mouth-feel when served ice cold, but will also mask some of the flavors. When it warms up, the liquid gives off more of the flavor compounds.
The Martini glass is important, the distinctive shape and stem of the glass are both visually appealing and practical. The wide open brim is said to produce surface tension that brings out the bouquet of the vodka and creates a nicer display of the olive garnish than a standard cocktail glass. The coned shape ‘bowl’ keeps the ingredients from separating while the stem helps to maintain the temperature. The drinker can hold the stem so that the heat of their hand does not change the temperature of the drink. Many people also believe that martini glasses were invented during Prohibition, the wide mouth made it easier to quickly dispose of the illegal alcohol during a police raid.
The detailed recipe for the GREY GOOSE Original Classic Martini is as follows:
GREY GOOSE® Original Classic Martini
Ingredients:
2 Parts GREY GOOSE® Original
½ Part NOILLY PRAT® Original French Dry Vermouth
1 Dash Orange Bitters
Method
1. Fill a mixing glass with ice.
2. Add NOILLY PRAT Original French Dry Vermouth.
3. Stir to coat ice and strain out.
4. Add GREY GOOSE Vodka and bitters, if desired, and stir well.
5. Strain into a chilled martini glass.
6. Present with an olive or lemon twist.
Some fun “facts” (or theories) on the history of the Martini:
* Some believe that the cocktail was created in Martinez, California and made during the gold rush of the 1800s
* Others attribute the name to a powerful rifle used by the British Army in the late 1800s called the Martini and Henry
* Through the 1940s and into the 50ʹs several major shifts in reality occurred. The use of bitters in Martinis disappeared, Vermouth became less and less important as an ingredient – this is when with the concept of substituting Vodka for Gin came to be
