Sunday, June 7, 2009

Shaken, Not Stirred

As most of my friends know (and which they sometimes give me grief), I don't drink. I haven't partaken of an alcoholic beverage since I was 5, when my dad gave me a sip of his beer. I was horribly traumatized by the incredibly bitter taste, and I've been turned off of alcohol ever since.

That doesn't mean I don't consume products made with alcoholic products, presuming there's no significant alcohol in the end product. For example, a tomato sauce cooked with a wine is perfectly acceptable. In fact, a tomato sauce cooked with wine is probably a good idea, since the alcohol extracts extra flavor and nutrition which aren't as readily available otherwise.

In my perusing of the interwebs today, I came across a story of the amazing properties of an alcoholic beverage. It turns out that shaking a martini instead of stirring it improves its antioxidant abilities, and both types of martinis are more effective than gin or vermouth alone. Amazingly, this was a supposedly carefully controlled studied published in a peer reviewed journal. I'm not exactly sure how they received funding for the study, but I'm going to guess that they had no trouble finding people to perform the studies. I will also give them props for writing fabulous lines in the paper:

"As Mr Bond is not afflicted by cataracts or cardiovascular disease, an investigation was conducted to determine whether the mode of preparing martinis has an influence on their antioxidant capacity."


and the fabulous conclusion:

"007's profound state of health may be due, at least in part, to compliant bartenders."


So, with this fascinating research showing the potential health benefits of martinis, will I start my Dionysian plunge? Probably not. But at least I have a sense of why 007 was so badass.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How ironic that the study involved gin. The popularity of Bond in the movies famously (or infamously, for gin martini fans like myself) almost single-handedly drove the popularity of vodka-based martinis.

I understand that a recipe given in one of the books described his drink as 3/4 gin, 1/4 vodka -- but I think the movies glossed over this and the vodka martini became the more popular type.

jkuo said...

Heh, I had no idea that there were different martini recipes. I guess I really know nothing about drinks.

Avitable said...

Is it a taste thing or a control thing? For me, it's control.

jkuo said...

I guess it was originally a taste thing. The bitter brew traumatized my young taste buds. Now, I'd say it's probably because I feel absolutely no desire to get intoxicated.

Avitable said...

I haven't imbibed since college, but that's primarily because I'm a control freak.