A good Dirty Martini goes great with seafood, but heck you can get away with having one with any type of meal.  My version of the Dirty Martini is a bit different from the typical one.  What is bothersome is ordering one in a restaurant or bar and having bartenders make them different from place to place.  So, this made me get picky about how I order mine, and sometimes I annoy myself that I don’t have a simpler order.  Here is my order “Kettle One Dirty Martini with extra dirt and no vermouth”…it is a mouthful, but that is what I like.

Vodka – I am not a gin drinker AT ALL….must be vodka.  If the restaurant does not have Kettle One, I will go with something like Absolute or even Stolis….No need for Grey Goose…you are just trying to impress your friends at that point.  For home, keep your Kettle One in the freezer.

Olive Juice – My preference is Dirty Sue’s Olive Juice Martini Mix, but I cannot get it locally in Phoenix.  You can get it from Amazon, but you get a better deal on shipping direct from dirtysue.com if you buy more than one.  Otherwise, juice from a big fat jar of olives work great.  The jar of olives tastes better than any other bottle of juice I have tasted (besides Dirty Sue), but you will eventually end up with dry-docked olives in your fridge.

Vermouth – YUCK!  Get that crud outta here…not even a splash.

Olives – the bigger the better…I like olives

Ok, pretty simple ingredients

• 3 oz of Vodka
• 1.5 oz of olive juice
• 3-4 olives

Preparation

You have a choice here.  If you have been keeping your vodka in the freezer, then just pour 1.5 oz of olive juice into the glass, and pour the vodka in after it.   Stab some olives with a cocktail skewer and you are done.  If your vodka isn’t cold, or you just want to get it really chilled or just want to make silly James Bond references, use a Cocktail Shaker with 4-5 cubes of ice to mix the olive juice and vodka.  Shaken, not stirred!  I just use the cap to the shaker for measurements…half cap of olive juice, and full cap of vodka.

Glass – Yep, you will notice I am not using a martini glass.  I have no clue if there is any kind of science behind why I would want to use a martini glass, but if you drink martinis in a martini glass, you spill martinis.  Also, you don’t look as macho standing next to your grill with a dainty martini glass.   I am not sure what the name of the glass is that I am using in the picture, but it is probably from some Pottery Barn cocktail set that my wife bought.  Use what works for you.

Grill Responsibly!

-GrillDude