I throw caution to the wind and stir them after they have been shaken.

A martini is 1¾ oz gin, 2 drops of dry vermouth, with an olive either shaken and straight up or on the rocks. The better the gin, the better the martini.
Any other configuration is not a martini.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Agreed. And don’t shake it.

Reality is a completely fixed and rigid environment. Anybody who believes in change is a fraud and should be punished.

@timothykinney I’ve seen guys get kicked out of martini bars for telling the bartender how they should make their martinis.

Anyway, people can mix it up if they like because innovation and invention are good but no one can make a chair and accurately call it a bookshelf.

I do enjoy a pink gin as well. No vermouth though. I like it dark, coating the glass with 5 drops of Angostura before stirring the gin in.

like this

Earl Grey MarTEAni, had this in NYC this past summer, new favorite drink.

I can’t make one, but my friend makes a “to die for” Pomegranate Martini, made with vodka, and rimmed with sugar.
I can’t find the recipe, and she won’t tell me.

I would just wait until somebody else made the first two drinks, than everybody would rave at mine.

Anything besides gin & vermouth (begrudingly vodka) is not a Martini. It’s some other kind of cocktail.

That’s like calling all cars BMWs.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Personally, I think there’s a larger difference between a chair and a bookshelf and different recipes for martinis. But cheers anyway.