The Skylos Martini
Kevin and I started enjoying martinis many years ago. Gin was our spirit of choice but it soon evolved into something more. We eventually found that we enjoyed combining gin and vodka to make a perfect martini. We love the flavor of gin but sometimes it can be a bit hard to drink straight. By combining the vodka with the gin, you get a very smooth martini.
After a lot of experimentation with many different gins and vodkas, we found the perfect combination. You don’t want a gin that has any citrus qualities and you want high quality vodka. Tanqueray Ten is the perfect gin for this cocktail. It’s distilled 10 times and has an excellent flavor. Grey Goose is the perfect high quality vodka and mixes perfectly with the gin.
If you are a James Bond fan, you might realize that this drink is very close to a Vesper, one of Bond’s drinks of choice. A Vesper has Lillet, a French Citrus Aperitif. Our cocktail has no citrus because it is served with three olives (preferably freshly stuffed with blue cheese). Three olives, one each for health, wealth and happiness!
Every cocktail needs an interesting name. We wanted a mysterious sounding name like the Vesper for our cocktail, so we named it after our dog, Skylos. It’s an odd name for a drink since Skylos means dog in Greek, but he was a happy dog, so you’ll feel great after drinking a Skylos.
- 1 ½ ounces Grey Goose vodka
- 1 ½ ounces Tanqueray Ten gin
- ice
- 3 good quality olives, preferably freshly stuffed with blue cheese
- Shaker
- Olive picks
- Tall-stemmed martini glass
- In the shaker, combine the gin and vodka. Add ice. Shake!
- Strain out into the tall-stemmed martini glass. Garnish with your olives and enjoy!
