A Martini made with Heather Gin and Dolin Dry Vermouth according to proportion prescribed by the Martini Measure.
The item itself consists of two china cones attached together by a piece of wood that is painted black. The large china cone is labelled “Gin” and the smaller, “Vermouth”; they hold 90ml and 30ml respectively. Thus, filling each to the brim would make a relatively wet 3:1 Martini.
Each of the cones, or measures, are decorated with various little pictures. The gin measure has a picture of a bottle with a cocktail glass on it (I’m guessing that this is gin), in addition to a goblet and some juniper berries. The vermouth measure displays a fish on a plate and another goblet. Both measures also seem to be decorated with pictures of cheese. The drawings have an almost child-like quality, which makes me think that they were hand-painted.
The box comes with no instructions, but I assume you simply use each of the cones to measure out the gin and vermouth and then add them to your mixing glass.
For my trial of this gadget, I used Knockeen Hills Heather Gin; at 47.3%, it makes a Martini with a lot of character. I accompanied this with Dolin Dry Vermouth.
The 3:1 gin:vermouth ratio determined by the size of the cones produced a Martini that was a bit too wet by my standards, but the drink worked quite well; however, I think that if you used a vermouth that is less subtle than Dolin, it might not work so well. I found that this was the main problem: the fixed ratio; there are no graduations in the cones, so there is no way for you to adjust it to your own tastes. This leaves you with 120ml of Martini at 39.85%, or the equivalent of two double whiskies. The drink is smooth and pleasant enough to finish, but with such a large drink I’m not sure what else you could do afterwards…
Summer Fruit Cup 