A martini only has two ingredients. If you’re trying to test a bartender you might consider doing something like a frozen pina colada or a gin fizz.
Gins and vermouths both vary a lot in flavor, and a martini is a drink that's all about the subtleties of how they interact. If you get an olive or three in your martini, there's also the element of the olive brine. That could be an incidental amount from the surface of the olives, or an amount added beyond that, at which point the drink is properly called a dirty martini.
A martini is the perfect test of a bartender's skill, just as a plain cheese pizza is the perfect test of a pizza maker's skill.
Furthermore, the recipe specifies the proportions. Whatever ounces or whatever ingredient. I would argue that them deciding the proportions outside of the recipe is bad.
I think your romanticizing martinis too much and reading too much into them. Martinis are good btw, just saying they’re the most basic drink.
The martini may be simple, but it is not easy to make an excellent one. It's a very solid test of a bartender's skill because, unlike many drinks, ingredients alone cannot carry the cocktail. A piña colada for example, is mostly about ingredients (are you using a good coconut cream? fresh pineapple?) For the martini the chilling and dilution need to be just right. This tests the bartender's most important skill: mixing. Proper mixing of the beverage is ultimately what makes a martini.
In addition, I've had a shocking number of awful martinis served to me.
I get the sense that this is just a hyper specific hobby of yours, so won’t begrudge you being exacting to the standards you’ve created. Just like some people really, really get off on leather shoes or suits or whatever, hobbies are fun.
if i show up to a bar and you pour me measures of vodka and vermouth in a glass without properly diluting it, i'll send it back and have a beer instead.
martinis are shockingly easy to fuck up. and this conversation is exactly the reason why the martini is a good test of a bartender's capability. being a bartender is more than putting fixed quantities of ingredients in a glass. how do you know when your martini is properly diluted, either by shaking or stirring? a good bartender will know. a bad bartender will not. a terrible bartender won't even realize dilution is crucial.
But butter is only for finishing, to bring out the garlic and thyme flavours. I cook it with a bit of oil if I finish with butter
I think that's the point :)
Just like you'd test an Italian chef by ordering pasta al pomodoro.
I've also seen things like "Why would you specify the # of elements when initializing an ArrayList in Java?", and you just know the person asking is the guy that sprinkles magic constants all over his code. And gives negative reviews when you don't put random (often relatively small) numbers in yours too.
As a restaurant customer, I would prefer a fried egg over a deviled one.
It's weird how different industries work - even if they're both creative ones. If a customer under-specifies what they want, and I just make what I think will wow them rather than what they were thinking of but didn't think to tell me, that's a bad job on my part for not engaging with them and finding out what they actually desired.
You might talk in great detail about SoA design, and the interviewer might be hiring for a monolith, but still respect the acumen, you could still be a great fit.
It doesn't mean the chef's only going to be cooking tasting menus any more than it means the engineer has carte blanche over greenfield design or to rewrite an existing project.
"Assume a female Gallus gallus domesticus lays a capsule containing an unfertilized ovum..."
Efficiently making an egg dish that can be served to customers would be a pass. The standards depend on the restaurant and the chef that does the interview.
Microwave for 3 minutes.
Add chocolate.
I'd be reaching for the polystyrene, spray paint and duck tape. Possibly, a 3D printer to show my technique is up to date.
I suspect I'm far too literal minded for this kind of test but then I'm an engineer.
The man wants to be an egg. The customer gets what he wants.
Getting into tiki cocktails, I’ve never had a bad one because it is literally impossible to mess up fruit juices and large quantities of rum and other spirits.
(also, standard-ratio Sidecars are an abomination)
[1] my recipe is 2 x VSOP Brandy + 1 x Cointreau + 0.5 x Lemon juice / Shake & strain.
It's not like a martini which is a term that can mean just about anything from person to person.
One of the categories in which he bins bartenders is "they don't know what it is, but don't try to wing it & when I tell them they make it correctly" and he views that as an acceptable outcome as well. If they can manage to make 1/3 each of 3 ingredients it means he can trust them to follow instructions on other drinks as well.
A martini is deceptive in its simplicity. The lack of flavorful ingredients like lime juice or coconut milk means technique and balance are more important, not less.
One thing I've not seen mentioned in other comments is the importance of the lemon twist. It's not just a visual garnish, when the oils are expressed onto the finished drink it adds a big layer of aroma which is an important part of the drink.
A martini requires vermouth. Drinking cold gin is a fine thing to do, but you needn't confuse the issue by calling it a martini.
"I would like to observe the vermouth from across the room while I drink my martini.”
Or "pour the gin and nod in the direction of France"
1) Those who've never had a good martini made with high-quality, fresh vermouth, carefully chosen to complement the gin (or vodka, for that variant) being used.
2) Folks who've adopted the preference not due to genuinely preferring straight gin to an actually good martini, but because they've decided it's somehow more hard-core, classy, or old-school, due to Churchill et al. (I wouldn't say it's any of those, but to each their own—if anything, the Churchill thing reads to me more as an alcoholism joke than serious advice)
I would agree, however, that given a decent-or-better gin and cheap vermouth that was opened six months ago and has been sitting in the back of a cabinet since, I'd rather have the gin neat or over ice. Both primary ingredients need to be good to make a tasty martini—otherwise, sure, why bother, and yeah, the vast majority of bars probably don't go through enough good vermouth to justify stocking it at all (let alone multiple kinds to pair thoughtfully with various gins) so many places just can't make a good martini. I certainly wouldn't judge a bartender's skill at anything but a very-fancy bar based on how good a martini they make. It's not a drink with an acceptable cheap version, IMO—there's nothing for the cheapness to hide behind.