Customer Reviews

The Martini: A Collection

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I always say if you're going to do something, do it right - and make sure you get the BASICS right.

This book does neither.

I mean, if you can't get THE martini recipe right, how much credibility does the rest of your 700+ recipe collection have?

I'm referring to Page 14 of the second printing of this book. The author's version of a Vesper Martini calls for (sit down for this, hold your breath ...) an OLIVE garnish.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Ian Fleming must be rolling over in his grave.

The Vesper Martini, as any martini afficianado knows, comes from the James Bond book, "Casino Royale," author Fleming's first Bond novel (sorry, it was there in the 1950's, long before the 2006 movie with Daniel Craig - although the flick ALSO gets the recipe correct). When you read that book, it very clearly states, about the Vesper Martini, "...add a large, thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

(Evidently Ms. Schafhauser did not get it.)

Look it up, if you don't believe me. And if that's not enough proof, you don't even have to read the novel. Just read "Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail" by Will Grimes, a New York writer. It spells it out: 3 oz of gin, 1-1/2 oz of vodka, 1/2 oz. of Lillet, with a twist of lemon for garnish. He also quotes Fleming.

Where Lisa Schafhauser got THIS recipe for a "Vesper Martini" is beyond me. (I guess she's the only one who DOESN'T know the correct recipe for this drink). How ANYONE could mess up something this crucial yet this simple is doubly beyond me. And how she could let it go to a SECOND PRINTING is infinitesimally beyond me.

If she can't this one right, why bother with the rest of the book?

(Besides, there is really only one species of martini, although it comes in several sub-species: the common thread: gin and/or vodka, vermouth and or Lillet. Anything else is just a cocktail in a martini glass.)

That aside, save your money and buy any of the infinitely better martini books on the market. Don't get this one. An author this sloppy when it comes to basic research does NOT deserve your money.