Martini Tasting Success!

Well, the martini tasting, it was a success! There were five martinis and three different types of vodka. Here is the run down:

An extra dirty Belvedere martini (pictured below) that went was served with the shrimp cerviche

A Belvedere lemon drop that was served with crab cakes

A Chopin albino cosmo served with grapes, arugula, and fontina cheese with a balsamic reduction sauce

An orange creamcicle Belvedere martini that was served with prosciutto, asparagus, and pineapple.

And finally a chocolate raspberry Ciroc martini paired with a white chocolate mousse (pictured below).

It was a great night! Afterwards we went across the street to Paragary’s where the bartender made us some lemon drops and gave us a free eggplant pizza that was DELICIOUS. I love this place and it has the most beautiful and zen-like back patio.

click below to see the full review of the martini tasting.

While all of the vodkas were high end, the only vodka that really was allowed to show its stuff was the Belvedere in the dirty martini. Even then, the olive juice was very strong and the martinis were clearly olive colored. However, this wasn’t a vodka tasting, it was a martini tasting so I can overlook this. The shrimp cerviche was aptly paired with this martini and was my favorite appetizer of the evening.

The lemon drops were made very well and were probably my favorite of the night. The first round was very light on the lemon, but also not strong on the vodka flavor. We thought these would be particularly dangerous. However the second round came out and this time the martinis were much sweeter and had more lemon flavor, like lemonade, which is even MORE dangerous. The crab cakes paired well with the lemon drops, but were not the best crab cakes ever. (This is because Winemonkey really does make the best crab cakes in the world and I have NEVER EVER paid for a crab cake and liked it half as much as Winemonkey’s.) However, Ink’s crab cakes were fairly dry but served in a large portion with an interesting red pepper sauce. The Big A likes The Black Pearl’s crab cakes (and they also have an awesome partini called the black pearl, which is made with pearl vodka and parfait de amour).

Before dinner we had a regular cosmo made with Absolute Mandarin (or some other brand of orange flavored vodka). I will say up front that Ink makes one of the BEST cosmos I have ever had and trust me… I have had a LOT of cosmos. When the Chopin albino came out, I have to say I was a little disappointed. The white cranberry juice had a much sweeter base than their regular cranberry juice and something just tasted “off” about the drink. In addition to the off taste, Chopin is one of my most favorite vodkas, so to have it doctored up so severely in a cosmo was painful. The pairing with the grapes and fontina cheese was a good choice though and this course was fairly good.

The orange creamcicle martini was decent. The Big A told our server that it would make a great shot to which she replied, “We usually serve it as a shot.” I found it to have a good taste, very much like the creamcicles of my childhood. However, whatever they used to make it creamy, also made it a little chalky. I can see how this wouldn’t be noticed in a shot, but martinis are meant to be sipped, so it stood out. I think the pairing with the prosciutto was just kind of random. Like someone said, “Well, we have pineapple in it, so I guess the orange one will go with the dish.” I think a martini that was a little less adulterated would have paired better with a food that had so much variety and flavor.

The final martini, the chocolate raspberry, was delicious. The first round was perfect, a very nice blend of chocolate and raspberry. There was no strong alcohol taste. I assume because they used more of the flavorless high end vodka and less of the raspberry and chocolate liqueurs. The second round was much more raspberry in flavor (and color) and had a very strong alcohol taste. The mousse pairing was appropriate, however the mousse was not very good because it had a strong butter taste and was gritty.

Overall, I had a great time tasting the variety of food and martinis. It was a very well run event, with little waiting between courses. The differences between rounds of drinks was expected because there were 3 bartenders mixing all night. The DJ (DJ Rigatoni) played some interesting choices for the “smooth jazz” theme. They raffled off 4 bottles of Ciroc vodka and one pair of tickets to the next tasting. The Big A said the crowd was a lot more mellow than the last time he went to a tasting. I would gladly go to their next martini event.