Get Straight Spicy With This Messy Ginger Martini
Happy weekend and welcome back to Happy 3 Ingredient Hour , a weekly drinks column featuring very simple yet delicious libations. Today we take two of my old favorites – ginger and martini – and combine them to make my new favorite.
I am a woman of kicks, obsessions and phases, and now I am obsessed with pickled ginger . You could also say that I am going through a “martini period”, but this will make my “martini period” at least twice as long as Picasso’s “blue period”. My love for martinis started with dirty olive oil samples before I decided that I was one of those “really cool” women who love dry martinis. Since then I have set a ratio of roughly 3: 1 (gin to vermouth) and at times can even appreciate wet . But I still have a soft spot for dirty bois, and lately I’ve been enjoying a dirty martini made not with olives or even pickled cucumbers, but with ginger brine .
The bright, sweet, spicy liquid works well for most gins, although I just adore it with a bit of a botanical twist. I rarely give simple bottle recommendations because I like it when you can use whatever you have, but I really love Tanqueray’s new Malacca gin, which has lovely notes of rose, pepper and clove. Combine with pickled ginger brine for a spicy, slightly sweet and funky martini with a botanically heavy, garden quality. To make it yourself, you will need:
- 2 1/2 oz Tanqueray Malacca gin
- 3/4 ounce dry vermouth
- 1/4 oz pickled ginger brine
Mix everything in a stirring glass filled with ice and stir until the glass is cold enough (about half a minute). Strain into a glass compartment and enjoy the bouquet of spiritual plants.