Vesper Martini

Name: Vesper Martini
Ingredients: 3 oz London dry gin; 1 oz Vodka; ½ oz Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Aperitivo Americano; Wide strip of lemon zest

martini · gin · vodka

The Lillet does the deciding — sweeter and rounder than dry vermouth, which is what keeps a mostly-gin pour from tasting like a dare. Shaking is deliberate here rather than sloppy, and the extra dilution is the only thing keeping this polite. I shake it, and I've stopped defending that.

Ingredients

3 ozLondon dry gin
1 ozVodka
½ ozLillet Blanc or Cocchi Aperitivo Americano

Garnish

Wide strip of lemon zest

Method

Combine ingredients in a shaker and fill with ice. Shake well until chilled, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. (Or if you want to go the full Bond route, shake with ice for about 10 seconds -- it'll make a more bubbly, cloudy drink, but that's up to you.) Squeeze a wide strip of lemon zest over the drink and use as garnish.