The Royal House of Martinis

February Martinis

Prince Edward Martini

Princess Elizabeth Martini

Quarterdeck Martini

Queen Elizabeth Martini

Racquet Club

Rolls Royce Martini

Ruby’s Red Grapefruit Martini

I have noticed certain themes in this book.  They are organized in alphabetical order, but also several sequential ones seem to share names, ingredients or themes in common.  In this case, there was a definite “royal” air about the names.   Having been a bit scattered this month, I’ve not noted the actual dates that I imbibed said libations.   I do apologize.   I could have just made up the dates, but that bit if subterfuge did not seem necessary or needed in this case.

The first drink was called the Prince Edward Martini:  6 parts gin, 1 part Drambuie, and a lemon twist.   Actually, I enjoyed this and thought it was quite tasty.   Drambuie is a liqueur made from scotch, along with some honey, herbs and nuts thrown in for extra flavor.   I do not like it by itself, but here combined with the gin and set off by the lemon twist it was quite nice.  I would actually make this one again—for pleasure not just as an obligation to the blog.   According to Wikipedia, after the battle of Culloden in 1746, the Drambuie recipe was given by Prince Charles Edward Stuart to Captian John MacKinnon.  Hence the name of the drink!  HAH!

The next royal beverage was not at all quaffable:  Princess Elizabeth Martini (6 parts sweet vermouth, 1 part dry vermouth. And 2 teaspoons Benedictine).  So much vermouth in one place, it was almost enough to send me screaming out into the streets.   Benedictine is yet another herbal liqueur, this time with no less than 27 plants and herbs, a closely guarded recipes known to only 3 people.  OK by itself, but not with 7 parts vermouth.   Heaven only knows why anyone, much less a Princess Elizabeth, would want her name associated with this.  I wonder if the Princess Elizabeth cited is the now THE Queen Elizabeth, or perhaps the original Queen Liz I—maybe all those early years of exile scrambled her taste buds.   I know not.

The Quarterdeck Martini was 6  parts berry vodka, 1 part maraschino liqueur, 1 part grapefruit juice and a fresh mint spring.  Alas, I was short one fresh mint sprig.  The royal connection for this one takes a bit of a stretch, so bear with me.   A quarterdeck is a part of the upper deck of a ship usually reserved for ship’s officers, guests and passengers or diplomatic guests.   So, I would guess this is where royal personages would hang out on their yachts and ships.   Heaven only knows WHY they would serve this drink though.  It was fairly awful, although not as awful as the previous one.   I think the berry vodka was too sweet, the maraschino exacerbated this, and it was not complimented or toned down by the grapefruit juice.   Perhaps the mint would have made a significant difference, but to me, it was like bilge water.  Or what I imagine bilge water would taste like.

The next drink, the Queen Elizabeth Martini was mixed with 6 parts gin, 1 part dry vermouth and 2 teaspoons Benedictine.   I cut down the vermouth and Benedictine by half.  This was drinkable, the Benedictine offered a compliment to the vermouth.   The Racquet Club (where all good royals hang out when they are not riding the hounds and such or at Ascot) was 6 parts gin, 2 parts dry vermouth and 3-5 dashes of orange bitters.   Again, we cut the vermouth and bitters by half.  I liked this one, the orange bitters suited it very nicely.    Next time I have on my tennis togs and am courtside, I shall sip it slowly whilst enjoying the match.

Royals ride about in their Rolls Royce and could do worse than to have this tasty martini:  6 parts gin, 2 parts dry vermouth, 2 parts sweet vermouth and ¼ teaspoon Benedictine.   Again, I cut down the vermouths by half—everyone will be pleased to learn that I no longer have 6 different bottles of vermouth.  We have successfully whittled it down to 2 and a half, thank you very much.  The Benedictine added a nice little extra bit to the drink.

The last drink I had this month was Ruby’s Red Grapefruit Martini.   The book recipe was raw sugar (for the rim), 1 ½ ounces citrus flavored or regular vodka, ½ ounce triple sec, 3 ounces red grapefruit juice, 2 teaspoons raspberry liqueur, grapefruit slices.   I had to modify it due to lack of ingredients.   Instead of the citrus or regular vodka, I used Ruby Red Vodka (Absolut), regular grapefruit juice instead of ruby red grapefruit juice, and no grapefruit slices and no sugar rim (not necessary, the drink was sweet enough).   The vodka, triple sec and grapefruit juice are mixed in a shaker and poured into a martini glass.  The raspberry liqueur (I used framboise), is poured gently and slowly into the glass so it sits at the bottom of the glass, giving it a layered look.  It was a very jolly, pleasing looking drink, like a Tequila Sunrise.   It was a sweet drink, but not overly sweet. I enjoyed the Absolut Ruby Red Vodka, it has a light citrus, perfumey taste, almost delicate.

~ by leahlair on March 5, 2010.