What does it mean to be careful not to "bruise the gin" when making a martini?!
Answers: What does bruise the gin mean specifically?
Shaking gin does a few things:
-It traps small air bubbles in the gin, giving it a cloudy appearance when strained into the stemmed cocktail glass. Some traditional martini drinkers will gasp at this; after all, the drink is very much about presentation.
-It breaks off shards of ice which will strain into the martini and eventually melt, further watering down the drink.
-Shaking any drink will generally make it colder than stirring.
The classic way to make a martini (or manhattan or rob roy for that matter) is to stir it, but it's really a matter of preference.
when you shake too hard, it makes the ice melt, watering down the alcohol, or "bruising" it.
"martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other,"
means not to over mix the gin and incorporate to much oxygen into the drink.
when you shake a martini it releases air into the drink, making billions of little bubbles....that is bruised....
Dont mix gin and ice too long.
Better to ice the glass: fill martini glass with ice and let it sit while you make the martini in the shaker.
Best martini ever: put the vermouth into glass, swirl & toss the vermouth out. Some vermouth will stick to glass. Add ice and gin.
When charles dickens came into my bar and ordered a martini I asked, "Olive or Twist.' (Oliver Twist)
never to punch the "GIN" in the Chin (that's all I got since the others already gave the proper answer)