Martini Stories Just Keep Pouring Out

Paul Dean’s “The Perfect Martini Is All in the Way You Spin the Yarn” (June 23) was a delightful feature.

After taking note of all his references to British gins and British personalities, however, I remember that on my visits to London, I never succeeded in getting a martini of any kind when ordering one. Invariably, what I got was a glass of Martini & Rossi vermouth sans ice. Sometimes the barkeep asked, “Sweet or dry?”

This caused me to conclude that martinis are perhaps exclusively American after all, although the name hardly originated in the USA. Dean’s references to London’s Savoy, Alfred Dunhill & Co., the Duke of Devonshire and Noel Coward raise even more questions about its hoary origin. The beat goes on about the lore and lure of the martini.

CHARLES R. BARR

Upland

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Shortly after World War II, Smirnoff vodka hit these shores with a catchy ad slogan--”It leaves you breathless.” It doesn’t, of course, but a lot of folks believed it.

I was working for a national advertising firm whose president, Chester J. Doyle, used to say, “I told my guys to quit drinking vodka martinis and get back to gin. I’d rather have the publishers think they’re drunk rather than stupid.”

JOHN DALY

Santa Maria

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It’s said that Winston Churchill used to love extra, extra dry martinis and that his perfect blend was gin and then to carefully uncork the vermouth bottle across the room for a brief second.

It all goes along with the martini mystique.

AMBROSE MASTO

Burbank