Martinis in the spotlight

We make no secret of the fact that the Martini is our favourite cocktail. It’s a classic that been around and enjoyed for well over 100 years. But, right now, it seems that everyone is getting in on the Martini action with all kinds of variations taking star billing on cocktail menus around the world. So rather than wait for World Martini Day to roll around in June, we couldn't think of a better time to celebrate this truly iconic drink. We open the episode by highlighting some of our favourite gins and vodkas for making our Martinis at home. Then, as well as our bar review, which sees us heading to the recently opened Brutes of Mayfair, we highlight some of our top spots for enjoying a Martini in London. One of which is Hawksmoor St Pancras & Martini Bar, where we meet this week's guest, Liam Davy. As Beverage Director of the Hawksmoor Group he's the man behind the dedicated Martini menus across all of the sites in the UK, Ireland and US and one of the nicest people to share our favourite cocktail with. For more from The Cocktail Lovers, visit thecocktaillovers.com For the products featured in this episode, see websites below: Liam's Ultimate Home Martini Batch (for a 700ml Bottle) 450ml Good Quality Gin or Vodka (we love Fords or Finlandia) 100ml Vermouth (Dolin Dry is our house pick) 150ml Filtered Water (unless you live somewhere with great tap water!) Optional extra: replace 50ml of the water with preserved lemon brine. Beefeater Crown Jewel Beluga Gold Line Vodka Brutes of Mayfair Connaught Bar Claridge's Bar Donovan Bar Dukes Bar Gordon's Export Strength Gin Fords Gin Hawksmoor Group Hawksmoor St Pancras & Martini Bar Jo Vodka Stolichnaya Elit Vodka Rules Sacred Gin Sipsmith Gin Tanqueray Gin Twenty8 NoMad X Muse Vodka The Cocktail Lovers theme music is by Travis 'T-Bone' Watson Edited by Christian Fox