What are you drinking?

[Hudler]

I can tell FB is a pro drinker,start out and get a buzz with the good stuff,then start chugging the cheap crap to fininsh off the night.

[haltz]

But as far as the martini thing goes, I don't even consider vodka to be an ingredient in a true martini. A martini is gin and vermouth, and that's it. Vodka and vermouth is just that, vodka and vermouth, it's not a martini.

Preaching to the choir there. I'm a gin martini guy (gin, up, olives). Including vodka was just my olive branch after the panties-in-a-glass aggression.

There's nothing wrong with a vodka martini. Are you guys 70 years old? If it's brown or clear it's fine by me.

I did have some mid-20s normal-looking guy order a raspberry martini from me the other day. I almost laughed to his face. I didn't really know what to put in it so I just made up something obvious (a little cointreau, raz vodka and chambord I think). He wouldn't stop saying things like, "I've had a ton of these and this has to be the best one I've ever had." It was seriously disconcerting.

I had some Bushmills at some point along with the beer that's documented in this thread. I don't count though, sorry everyone.

[JL21]

I'm just not a vodka drinker. I hate it. I've had too many bad experiences with it. And I can only imagine that having it in a martini is about the last thing a vodka hater would want to do since the only thing there to offset the vodka is a little vermouth and an olive or two.

[omaha_red]

give me beer or give me nothing.. really.. i don't like any
hard liquor at all.. i hate shots.. cause i normally decide
to take them after about 12 beers and then i'm just
too drunk to do anything.. and i don't really care for wine..
although.. i'm trying to learn..

[maddash]

For me, it's the idea that gin and vodka are interchangeable - which they're not even close to being - and when you sub vodka for gin in a martini, you're saying that one is just like the other. Vodka is colorless, orderless and tasteless, while a good gin is full of botanical flavors. A good vermouth (sweet or dry) complements the flavors of gin and it rounds out its harshness, it really doesn't do much for vodka. Vodka is, IMO, a filler there to get you drunk. And this trend of serving martinis with little or no vermouth... I just don't get that. If you want to sip gin or vodka, chill it and serve it in a tall shooter, don't waste a martini glass. A martini is a cocktail, a cocktail whose ingredients are gin and vermouth. Changing those ingredients changes the cocktail and it no longer becomes a martini.

The problem is that no one knows how to make cocktails anymore, and because of that no one really knows how to drink cocktails. Outside of a few places in New York, Miami, LA (the big cities) there aren't any bars with true mixologists. You might have some bars with great bartenders, but the idea of a bartender on par with a chef (which is what a true mixologist should be) just isn't popular around these parts... so, you have people making $9 drinks who really have no history of cocktail, and no real creativity when it comes to making new ones.

[GatewaySnayke]

I took a generous drink of a gin and tonic once. It was my first and last time drinking gin. It's like pouring pure gasoline down your throat. My face was all kinds of scrunched up.

[haltz]

Winston Churchill and I disagree about the vermouth.

[Radbird]

I did have some mid-20s normal-looking guy order a raspberry martini from me the other day.

Dangerously close to appletini territory - careful, you could lose your right to serve the High Life.

a good gin is full of botanical flavors. A good vermouth (sweet or dry) complements the flavors of gin and it rounds out its harshness

I rarely drink martinis (or any other hard liquor) these days, but that is a very good description of why I love a good martini.

[maddash]

I took a generous drink of a gin and tonic once. It was my first and last time drinking gin. It's like pouring pure gasoline down your throat. My face was all kinds of scrunched up.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the modern American male.

[UK]

Has anyone here had Landshark?

I like it, it reminds me of Corona without the skunk taste.