Name: Bill's Famous Martini
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 4 oz vodka (chilled); splash dry vermouth (roughly 1/2 oz); 2 stuffed olives (for garnish)

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First of all, let me start this off by saying the Vokoun family is a James Bond family and a vodka martini family. If you happen to find yourself in the backseat of a car with all four of us and you say “I’ve never actually seen a James Bond movie” you will hear all of us yell out in unison “YOU HAVEN’T SEEN A JAMES BOND MOVIE?!” Then you can guess what your next birthday / Christmas present is going to be. Do you think I’m joking? Ask my brother-in-law. If you’re lucky, you will hear the whole story while sipping on one of Bill’s Famous Martini.

You can probably guess where my love of tasty cocktails comes from. If you can’t, I’ll tell you. It’s my parents. And much like my taste has evolved beyond bourbon and Coke, my parent’s taste has evolved beyond Scoresby and a splash of water. Yay for personal development! If you’ve been to their house for one of their many dinner parties, happy hours, barbecues, or holiday events then you’ve probably been offered a martini from my dad. If you HAVEN’T been to their house for any kind of event, then you have a new life goal, because my dad would love to make a cocktail for anybody that steps foot in their house and plans on staying for an hour or two. He may even offer you a shot of tequila, which you definitely should not accept if you plan on driving home.

I started this blog to share my own creations and concoctions. I’m changing it up a little bit (with my dad’s permission) to bring you a cocktail that my mom has dubbed “the best martini I’ve ever had.” I’m not a big martini drinker, something about drinking a martini with a straw just takes all the class right out of it. if you are or think you might be, a martini fan then this is the recipe for you!

How to Make Bill’s Famous Martini

This recipe, done properly, requires a little bit of advanced planning. Not only are you going to want to use vodka chilled in the freezer, but you are also going to want to chill your martini glasses. The cool crispness of this martini is what makes it the best!

Bust out that cocktail shaker! If you’re an amateur cocktail shaker, you might also want to get some oven mitts (seriously, I’m not joking). Fill your cocktail shaker about half full of ice, and pour over ounces of vodka and the dry vermouth. Get your chilled glasses out of the freezer and drop in two olives skewered on a cocktail stick, then mentally prepare for what’s about to happen.

This is where all those hours of your shake weight training come into play. Put the top on your cocktail shaker and shake until you think you don’t need to shake anymore. Once you’ve reached that point, continue shaking. This is where the oven mitts come in because your fingers are going to get COLD. If you start losing feeling in your fingertips, grab those oven mitts and shake some more. I’m serious, the more you shake the better the martini. When you can’t shake anymore and your arms are officially noodles, pop the top and strain into your chilled martini glasses. Sit back, and toast to your classy creation.

Tips

All jokes aside, you want Bill’s Famous Martini to be as cold as you can possibly get it. That’s why you use vodka from the freezer and shake as much as you can
While the drink may have been my dad’s creation, the oven mitts were actually my idea, and yes they have actually been used for the creation of this cocktail.
Part of the classiness of Bill’s Famous Martini is in the olives. You want green stuffed olives, however, the stuffing is up to you; blue cheese, pimento, jalapeno, whatever floats your boat
Interesting bit of trivia regarding James Bond and his martinis. Even though the gin-based Vesper Martini is widely seen as Bond’s go-to, in Ian Flemming’s novels, Bond actually orders more vodka martinis than gin martinis.