Fifty-Fifty Martini

Sometimes you want a little more out of your Martini. The Martini was originally a wine cocktail with a good helping of vermouth (fortified wine) and some bad prohibition-era gin to back it up. It was really a vermouth-lover's drink and did its best to hid the poor quality of spirits available at the time. If one purpose of the cocktail is to spread the expensive stuff thin over a lot of cheap liquor so that it goes farther and has more effect, than the Martini is guilty of this.

But following prohibition, the quality of gin went way up as imports became available. People's tastes changed and they wanted stronger drinks. Most vermouths made in California were of lesser quality than the stuff from France and Italy. We imported less of the good vermouths because of our taste for dry cocktails, until eventually only poor quality vermouth was available in most bars. So we had the reverse of the original cocktail with almost no vermouth present.

Now, though, you can get good stuff all around. And most bars don't mind pouring a little more vermouth in a cocktail. It's not something that they often charge for. So go ahead. Get a Martini made with half gin, a strong one like KO Battle Standard Navy Strength gin, and Dolin extra dry. You won't regret it--or maybe you will.

• 2 oz. gin (KO Battle Standard Navy Strength used)
• 2 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin extra dry used)
• Spanish olive

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the olive.