One gin, two gin, clear gin, blue gin

Some of you might remember an older post in this blog about some fancy-pants blue gin that I was introduced to a while back by my father-in-law. Good stuff!

Then there are those "celerytinis" that LK has twittered and facedbooked about just recently. She learned about these at the Alembic in San Francisco and then found the recipe online. (The drink is actually called a "Southern Exposure.")

As I was unable to get the gin that the original recipe called for (Junípero, made by Anchor Steam in San Francisco), I decided to experiment with another gin that was also infused with spices since I could not get Magellan (the blue gin from the older post) where I was shopping. And a celerytini, which would end up being green anyway, would not benefit from blue accents.

I chose a new gin, Citadelle, and our celerytinis were quite successful. And tasty. Perhaps a little too tasty...

Anyhow, I decided that a gin martini taste was in order with such exotic gins at hand (I had a bit of Magellen left).

Since I was out of Martini & Rossi vermouth, I also restocked on a new (to me) vermouth: Noilly Prat, some fancy-pants French stuff.

After mixing two exactly proportioned martinis (following the recipe that was in the back of the Noilly Prat bottle), evaluation time was at hand. It was a tough one. (No seriously, it was.)

Both were quite smooth. Both had very good nuances of flavor. One was blue, the other not. Both had two olives. Was there a winner?

Well, at least in this first tasting round I have to say that the Citadelle was just a bit nicer. I'm not sure if it was smoother, or it had more nuances, perhaps it was drier (I thought I favored dry martinis), but it was just...nicer.

Perhaps I should make a blind test. Yeah. That's it. Well, but not tonight though...