Islay Martini

Islay Martini
The Islay Martini
Dry and Smooth Martini 
Serves 2
50mls (4x Dessert Spoons) of Dry Vermouth of Your Personal Choice
150ml of Pentland Hills Gin
1 Lemon
Glass Choice:
Martini Cocktail Glass Icon - Pentland Hills Gin
An archetypal martini, dry and smooth at the first sip with a hint of lemon. Over time the drink offers coriander, cardamom and maybe some mint. Slow sipping is highly recommended.

This was first conceived on a very happy day on the Isle of Islay on our friends 40th wedding anniversary. The Head Distiller and the bride were having a very detailed conversation about the best properties of gin martini and came across this ratio and combination of vermouth and gin. They felt that the lemon zest rather than lemon peel added a rather more subtle hint of lemon that worked really well with Pentland Hills Gin. We named the Martini after the island as it is a special place dear to our hearts and home to some of our wonderful friends.

Method
  1. Take two martini glasses and add cubes of ice to both glasses and place in fridge
  2. Take a cocktail shaker and add ice till half full
  3. Pour into cocktail shaker both the vermouth and PHG and put the lid back on and set to one side
  4. Take lemon and with a zester (kitchen tool found in most supermarkets) and zest the lemon and take off as much as you can and place in a small bowl
  5. Remove the martini glasses from the fridge and empty ice into the sink
  6. Now the fun bit - take the cocktail shaker and shake whilst singing your favourite song
  7. Feel free to dance around the kitchen whilst shaking but don’t drop the shaker
  8. Once the song is complete, pour equal measures of the mixture into each glass until the shaker is empty
  9. Take a generous pinch of lemon zest and sprinkle into each glass
  10. Allow to settle for 3 seconds and it is now ready to drink
Phil Cox