Subtlety.

I'm all for subtlety.  When I was bartending I was known for three drinks; Martinis, Long Island Iced Teas, and Bloody Marys.  My Long Islands were strong but didn't taste that way, it wasn't until you got up that you realized how strong they were.  My Mary mix was not subtle at all, the formula I used I may even post someday.  My martini however was subtle.

If you don't know about martinis here's a primer.  A martini is a shot of gin with a bit of dry vermouth, put an olive in it and you're done.  When someone wants a dry martini that means no vermouth, just a shot of gin (or if you're younger you order vodka).  Straight up (or up) means chilled and served without ice, on the rocks means served over ice.  Really pretty simple until you get into the Appletini or Chocolatini or the other flavored martinis.

I used to make my martinis the way everyone else did, chill the glass and pour the gin and vermouth in a shaker tin and then shake to chill it, dump out the ice and pour the drink into the glass.  Then I'm at some bar and I see a bartender make one a little differently.  I asked her why she did it the way she did, she told me and I tipped her.  Then I started doing it the same way.

Her trick was to chill the glass as usual, pour the gin in a shaker glass and swirl it instead of shaking it.  When done swirling the gin pour out the ice and pour into the martini glass some dry vermouth.  Swirl that around the glass and then dump the excess.  Now you can finally pour the gin into the glass.  Add garnish as usual.

I had a regular customer customer that came in and would occasionally order martinis, he became my guinea pig.  I told him that I was going to make him a martini, if he liked it more than a regular martini then it would go on his tab.  If not then I would buy it for him.  It went on his tab and he became a regular martini drinker then.