Vermouth & Tonic

Ingredients

• 75 ml red vermouth
• 100 ml well-chilled tonic water
• Large ice cubes
• An orange slice and an olive

Preparation

1. Fill a copa glass to the top with ice. Vermouth is low in alcohol and waters down fast: the more ice, the slower everything melts.
2. Pour the vermouth over the ice and stir a couple of times to chill it.
3. Add the tonic slowly, down the side of the glass. The ratio is three parts vermouth to four of tonic: here the vermouth leads and the tonic only lengthens it, the opposite of a Gin & Tonic.
4. One turn with a bar spoon, from the bottom up, and stop.
5. Drop in the orange slice and the olive. Both, not one: the orange brings the aroma and the olive the salt that cuts the sweetness. It is the Spanish habit, and there is a reason for it.