While I do enjoy a well prepared martini now and again, I generally stick with a good scotch if I indulge while smoking one of my favorite cigars.My very good friend, on the other hand, prefers a good martini over other spirited cocktails. He had asked me to post on the forum and try to get some advice and opinions on what a good, well thought out pairing would be for a Kettle One martini with olives.

Kettle1 is Vodka. A True Martini is made with gin.

I would presume that one could smoke an Opus with a vodka martini just as I smoke an Opus Super Belicoso with my Tanqueray martini every Saturday.

Vodka martini. Hmmm...

First off, eew. London Dry or nothing for me.

I would pair a fuente 8-5-8 M with it. Maybe a Punch Rare Corojo. You could go random and grab yourself an H. Upmann cameroon, but I can't say it would be a great pair.

Bear

PS- Doc can pair ANYTHING with an Opus. How unfair...

A punch Rare Corojo Pita or Double Corona, also a RyJ Reserva Real Churchill pair nicely with either Kettle 1 or Belvedere martinis.

Vodka and cigars don't mix. Scotch and cigars? Absolutely. (Gin) martinis and cigars? Well...maybe with a milder cigar but not for me.

Hey Cord your right about vodka and cigars yuck!!!

I wonder if the "martini" is the traditional cocktail or the ice-cold gin/vodka strained into a glass that is served now-a-days.

A proper martini will go great with a medium bodied cigar, IMO. The herbaciousness (wow, is that a word???) of the gin will pair nicely with the tobacco flavor and the sweet vermouth and orange bitters will accentuate some of the lighter/sweeter flavors of a cigar.

I have to agree with cord also. I like martinis gin more so than vodka. I just have not had a good pairing with a cigar. Like anything else it is personal preference. No for a really good martini Bombay saphire or even Beefeaters with dry vermouth olive juice and two olives. Man I hate General order #1.

I'm a Bombay Sapphire guy, too, though for an occasional changeup, I do like the new Junipero from the Anchor Brewing people in San Francisco, too.

I keep the bottles and a couple of martini glasses in my freezer. My martini recipe is open the gin, pour liberally into a glass, drop in a twist of lemon peel, and enjoy. I never acquired much of a taste for olives, but my wife skewers three of the ones stuffed with blue cheese and puts that into hers.

On those occasions, something mild-to-medium bodied works best for me ... Avo Classic, maybe, or a Cusano 18.

I am not a martini guy, either vodka or gin but I have a question. Why do you not call a very dry martini just, "gin on the rocks"?

I remember scenes from M*A*S*H* where Hawkeye just kept a bottle of vermouth in the tent and said that was dry enough for him.

I am a scotch or brandy guy in the fall and winter and a rum and G&T guy in the summer.

Saxon, you've hit the nail on the head. A martini is a cocktail. Not a straight spirit with a twist of lemon or olive or onion thrown in. At a minimum a martini contains gin and vermouth (either sweet or dry.)

http://www.drinkboy.com/Cocktails/recipes/Martini.html

The original martini contained gin, sweet vermouth and a dash of orange bitters. And to me, this is the only correct martini.

http://www.drinkboy.com/Cocktails/recipes/Martinioriginal.html

A "classic" martini substitutes dry vermouth for the sweet.

Anything else is simply not a martini or is simply a chilled spirit.

Now, go make a martini and light up a stogie . . . all this talk has got me thirsty.

Cheers!

Now I'm really thirsty. TMF- perfect description, but I appriciate lime in my gin.

Now that we're going in this direction, I'm going to post a new thread about favorite drinks while smoking. Go post yours!

Bear

hey, I dont care what you martini purists say, I have recently acquired the ingredients to make the bond martini called vesper and I love it. Absolutely a terrific, terrific drink. One that I hope to enjoy for the rest of my days. As for the question at hand, I paired this martini with a la flor ligero and it was fine. Maybe not as tasty as some other cigar that may have paired better with this drink but for just enjoying a good drink the cigar did just fine. Kinda mild actually.

Hey SPT, will you post the recipe for the Vesper? I'd love to try and collect the booze to make one.

Bear