Happy Friday once again! This week is kind of a parenting win for me. I don’t know how I did it, but I got Sharkette into watching cooking shows. The French Chef and Julia and Jacques: Cooking at home. I don’t know why she likes it so much, but I’ll take it! It’s better than most of the crap kids shows out there and if it inspires her to want to help me cook in the kitchen more, then I’m all for it! What does this have to do with drinking a cocktail? Well when we were watching Julia prepare a roast suckling pig (one of my daughter’s favorites and I don’t know why) I remembered an article I read not too long ago, about a drink that she would serve with Goldfish at parties. Having two kids, we constantly have Goldfish on hand, and I wanted to try it. She served a “wet’ or reverse martini with the crackers. Having never had one prepared this way, I went for it. I used the “dry” martini recipe from my Martini cocktail book, and inversed the proportions:

Reverse Martini

2 oz. Dry vermouth

1 oz. London dry gin

Strip of lemon peel for garnish

Combine the gin and vermouth in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass, filled with ice. Shake or stir as desired. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with the lemon peel

Strong citrus aromas on top. The lemon really shines through. I get some of the distinct dry vermouth smells as well. Nothing from the gin. No surprise to me here. The doubling of the vermouth is enough to mask it’s distinctive signature scent. Overall, it has a very pleasant aroma.

Just like the aforementioned aromas, the dry vermouth is the star on the palate as well. However, given the dry vermouth is the frontrunner of ingredient flavors, it isn’t as dry as you would expect. The gin, a London Dry, normally adds the signature “dry” flavors in a martini. But since that has been overshadowed in both smell and taste, this is actually known as a “wet” martini. The vermouth absolutely dominates the taste buds. I get a little bit of lemon and citrus that come through at the end, but only ever so slightly. The vermouth absolutely dominates the flavor. The gin, I can get a little taste of, somewhere in the sip, but it’s very fleeting, and goes about as fast as it comes. It finished basically the same, with a little hint of vermouth leftover on the palate, but it dissipates fairly quickly.

One advantage this drink has, is that it is quite low in ABV when compared to a normal 2:1 ratio dry martini. Less spirit and more vermouth leads to the lower percentage. Considering that, this is a good choice for someone wanting a martini, but may not want a full strength one, or someone that wants a couple in a sitting and still wants to be functional after imbibing. As to the goldfish, they are an excellent accompaniment to this drink. The salty cracker plays nicely with the flavors going on in the drink, and because it has less booze than a regular martini, having a sip after eating some crackers isn’t as intense of a palate shock as a normal martini is.

Now the question is, would I make this again. The answer is…maybe? I’m kind of torn here. On one hand, I prefer my drinks stronger so this isn’t exactly in my wheelhouse normally. However, the lower ABV, and intensity does give you the ability to have a few and not be completely useless afterwards. Plus, the goldfish pairing is a nice touch and a welcome compliment. Perhaps this will become a more regular feature when I want a post work beverage.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)