Vodka martini please, stirred not shaken

One off the big questions I get asked by first time cruisers is, “how do I make sure I don’t stand out? I don’t want people to know it’s my first cruise!” No one likes to seem like a novice at something, especially thousands of miles from home. My advice is almost always the same. Don’t worry, just be honest about it being your first cruise 99% of people will be really nice and bend over backwards to make sure you enjoy your first sailing. But it did get me thinking the other day about silly novice mistakes; whilst I was watching a James Bond movie when it got to the typical casino scene and he ordered his martini, ‘shaken, not stirred’. This always, always bugs me.



Don’t ever order this cocktail in front of a martini drinker. Ever.
This always leads to a bit of a debate amongst cocktail drinkers but a martini, shaken not stirred is traditionally known as a Bradford, or in some places a James Bond Martini.
Shaken martini is different from stirred for a few reasons. The shaking action breaks up the ice and adds more water, weakening the drink but also altering the taste. Some would say the shaken martini, usually citing hard-to-track-down scientific studies; say that shaking causes more of a certain class of molecules (aldehydes) to bond with oxygen, resulting in a "sharper" taste. Shaking also adds tiny air bubbles, which can lead to a cloudy drink instead of clear. In addition the drink is a perfect aperitif - it cleanses the mouth before eating - and the tiny air bubbles restrict the gin (or vodka) from reaching all tastebuds. This is why purists would claim that a martini should always be stirred.
So if you go into a cocktail bar and ask for a martini, shaken not stirred you’re actually ordering a weaker, more watery drink, (and being a bit of a prat if you do it in a Scottish accent).
So be a connoisseur, order it stirred, not shaken and you’ll fit right in.
Obviously, as always, if you don’t agree let me know about it here.

Happy cruising