Online School of Cocktailory 
For drinking #alonetogether
Section 102: The Martini
Garnishes can be as dainty as a dehydrated pineapple slice, or a full on cheeseburger meal (I’m looking at you, bloody maries). Sure we “eat with our eyes first” and it’s fun to play with food on a plastic sword, but the garnish’s main purpose is to provide additional complementary aromas and mild seasoning, just as the bitters did to the Old Fashioned.
Citrus rind twists (lemon, orange and sometimes grapefruit) are expressed by twisting a strip of rind into a curly cue and pulling to release some of the rind oil over the drink, which smells nice and a little bitter. Then the twist is set on the rim or placed on a pick so you smell it as you drink, without it soaking into your cocktail making it too bitter. Orange can be rubbed on the rim of the glass, or set in the drink since it adds a little sweetness too, but it’s the exception.
Fruit & Veg garnishes are added in the same way we decided if we liked wet or dry martinis last week; it’s all personal preference. Here you can go as minimal as a cucumber slice on the side of your Hendricks, or as briny as a Dirty Martini with a side of extra olives.
This week’s accoutrement experiment should again be served in tiny portions or shared with your quarantine buddy for preemptive portion control. You don’t have to clean your plate at this table. Water exists. Drink responsibly. Etcetera etcetera.
Ok. Stir on ice 6 oz. of a London Dry style gin (or vodka if you prefer) with 3 oz. of a dry or blanc vermouth, then strain into 6 coupes. (or other small glassware of your choice) We want pretty low flavor & aroma liquors for this, since the point is to smell the garnish.
Next pick 5 of the following to try: lemon, lime, orange and/or grapefruit rind twists, cocktail olives with varying stuffings, pickled or cocktail onions.
Leave the first glass with no garnish. Add an olive to the 2nd, an onion to the 3rd, and express one type of citrus twist over each of the remaining glasses, then place the peel into that drink (gasp I know I just said not to do that, but we’re experimenting here. It’s a thing)
Try a sip of each Martini, one at a time, and see if you can smell and/or taste the difference. Then try rubbing a piece of rind onto part of the rim of the citrus glasses and see if the drink becomes more bitter if you sip from that spot and how that affects the cocktail. Now let them all sit for 10 minutes and taste again. The citrus rind soaked drinks will probably get pretty bitter, and the olive and onion drinks will get briny. Which versions do you like best?
For the non-alcoholic version you can do the same experiment with soda water. I would steer away from the pickled onions here, but cucumber might be a good sub.
Cheers friends 
see you next week
Jet Tries 
Experiment round 1 with a pimento-stuffed olive mini-tini, a feta-stuffed olive-tini, a tipsy marinated cocktail onion-tini, and a julienned fire-roasted red pepper-tini. With a side of steak, mushroom gravy, and kale salad, garnished with my family.
The first sip of each drink while they were still very chilled were pretty similar, though onion was prob my least favorite. 3 or so minutes in and the olive versions were the best. Although after eating steak, the onion and red pepper ones were the best, the feta one was getting weird, and the pimento one was fine but hard to taste anymore. Makes me want to learn more about food pairing!