Cocktail Hour: "With the martini we reach a fine and noble art ... you need not sing, for presently there will be singing in your heart."

"With [the martini] we reach a fine and noble art ... 

     "The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory; it is one of the happiest marriages on earth, and one of the shortest lived. The fragile tie of ecstasy is broken in a few minutes, and thereafter there can be no remarriage... 

    "There is a point where the marriage of gin and vermouth is consummated. It varies a little with the constituents, but for a gin of 95 proof and a harmonious vermouth it may be generalised as about 3.7 to 1... 

    "The goal is purification [of the mind] and that will begin after the first round has been poured, so I see no need for preliminary spiritual exercises. But it is best approached with a tranquil mind, lest the necessary speed become haste. Tranquility ought normally to come with sight of the familiar bottles. If it doesn't, feel free to hum some simple tune as you go about your preparations [the Blue Danube being an excellent choice] ... [but] do not whistle, for your companions are sinking into the quiet of expectation. And you need not sing, for presently there will be singing in your heart." 

          ~ Bernard De Voto, from his book The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto 

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