I've yet to have the "Vesper" Martini, but I have the Taverner Martini

[Taverner]

1 1/2 oz Gin
1 1/2 oz Vodka
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth
1 splash of olive juice
Shake hard, as if you're...well...moving something up and down very rapidly and very forcefully. Beat the shit out of that ice, and those spirits.

Garnish with olive

[HopeHoops]

1. Shaking will bruise the gin.

If you're James Bond and have no class (which he doesn't in that case), then shake it. Heathen.

:hi:

[Taverner]

2. I've never understood what 'bruising the gin' meant

What flavor difference is there?

[HopeHoops]

3. It refers to causing the gin to become a bit more "sharp" and it can cause it to become cloudy.

There's a lot of debate as to whether there's an actual change in flavor. One thing shaking WILL do is dilute the drink more quickly than stirring. It is really just a personal preference thing. I don't actually like gin.

[Taverner]

4. Ah OK

Someone told me once that shaking the martini results in more aeration than stirred, and while it may be dilluted, the oxygen in the drink means it hits you faster, in the same way Champagne or Beer does.

[HopeHoops]

5. It DOES result in more oxygen, but whether it makes you drink it faster or not is questionable.

The oxygen is actually the alleged cause of the flavor change. If you do drink a shaken martini faster I would suspect that has more to do with the dilution from the ice than the oxygen.

[Taverner]

6. I didn't mean that you drink it faster, but that the alcohol hits you faster

I must have been drunk when I posted that response :)

[HopeHoops]

7. I'll assume you had shaken your drink.

:evilgrin:

[Deep13]

8. I made a Vesper once and split it with my wife.

Too much booze, otherwise. I shook it. I used Stoli 100 pr. instead of Gordons because Gordons is not as strong as it was in 1950ish when Casino Royal was written. I had to improvise one of the other ingredients too. Never made (or heard of) a Taverner Martini.