Happy first day of November! This week I decided to get a little adventurous. Last weekend we had Sharkette’s 5th birthday party with family and friends. Some family dropped off some tangerine and chili flavored olives for Mrs. Sharkbait and I. I immediately passed them on to her because olives are gross. However, I was told that these were different, and my uncle, who also does not like olives, tried some and said they were good. My sister suggested making a dirty martini with them as well. You can see where this is going. I figured it was worth a shot to try it. According to Mrs. Sharkbait I make a fantastic dirty martini. Why not try something were I can make us both delicious drinks? Here is the recipe I use for mine:

2 oz. Gin (or vodka, I used gin today)

2/3 oz. Dry vermouth

2/3 oz. Olive bring (usually for Mrs. Sharkbait I round up to a full ounce, but I was hesitant to add more)

Put all ingredients into a shaker with cracked ice. and shake for about 20 seconds until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with two olives.

There is a very distinct olive brine aroma. I’m immediately questioning my decision to make this….

Yup. I do not like that. It’s heavy on the olives up front. (no shit). Then the tangerine comes in. It does a heroic job of trying to mask the olive brine, but there’s only so much that it can do. Instead it mixes together to get a fruity, olive briny flavor that completely takes over the flavor profile.That mixture completely covers any gin that even thought about coming through. I guess that’s what you want in a dirty but I like tasting the base.

It finishes pretty much the same way, with the tangerine brine I’m use as strong as before. Not only that, it costs the palate so the flavor hangs around which is super awesome.Also, I was led to believe there was chili in this. I get zero heat in the drink. Though Mrs Sharkbait, who quite happily laid claim to the rest of the drink, says the heat is in the olive. Of course the chili heat would be discernable in there. You’ll notice I chose to garnish with a tangerine instead of an olive. I erred on the side of caution in case I thought it was passable. It didn’t matter in the long run.

Yeah, this is a HARD pass from me. But, I will make it again for Mrs. Sharkbait. She thinks this drink is fantastic, but missing something. We added a drop of Peychaud’s bitters to it and it was better, but not it. She thinks it might be good with tequila and a dirty margarita. I’d definitely try making that for her sometime soon.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go make myself something different to get this olive taste out of my mouth.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)