h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No. You are wrong.

Just because commander Bond likes the that way (in the films) it dosen't make it right. The shaking of the ice bruises the delicate flavours of the vermouth and makes the drink taste worse.

In the original Ian Fleming books Bond orders his drink stirred. It was decided during filming of the films that 'shaken, not stirred' sounded better.

It's still so wrong.

As I understand it, the spirits and mixes are put into a cocktail shaker which is then shaken. This helps the spirits blend together. The mixture is then poured into glasses that contain ice. When pouring the mixture, the glasses are held at an angle so ensuring the vermouth (and the gin and/or vodka - all spirits bruise) is not bruised.

For all mixed drinks, the only ice that should be put into a shaker/blender is crushed ice.

As you rightly say, the correct use of cocktail shakers is yet another skill used by civilised people that has still to penetrate the brains of the Alices from Wonderland who make movies. Perhaps this is because these Alices make most of their money from movie-attending American-domiciled barbarians

As a card-carrying American barbarian, I have a technical question for this forum.

What the heck does "bruising gin" mean? I've heard this expression before, in fact in reference to a conversation about shaking drinks. It doesn't make any sense to me. Whatever the drink mixture, it's a mixture of liquids dissolved together, it doesn't have any crystalline structure. What is there to "bruise"?

Is the difference discernible enough so that an experienced drinker would be able to pick up the difference in a double blind taste test?

I'm not coming from the point of view of a drinking connesiur, but as an apprentice scientist.

There are three main differences between a martini (or a vodka martini) which has been stirred and one which has been shaken. First, a shaken martini is usually colder than one stirred, since the ice has had a chance to swish around the drink more. Second, shaking a martini dissolves air into the mix; this is the "bruising" of the gin you may have heard seasoned martini drinkers complain about -- it makes a martini taste too "sharp." Third, a shaken martini will more completely dissolve the vermouth, giving a less oily mouth feel to the drink.

In a vodka martini, cold is key: a vodka martini that is not ice-cold tastes like lighter fluid. So you shake them. The experience of a traditional martini is more dependent on it being smooth and on not ruining the delicate flavors of the gin. Ergo, one stirs it. Simple enough, no?

For more - including a link to a scientific explanation - do a Google search for "bruising gin".