NEW YORK (NEW PALTZ): THE BEST TWIST ON A DIRTY MARTINI (IN A WINTER WONDERLAND)

By Nora Zelevansky / February 10th, 2010

I'm a big fan of the dirty martini.  Extra dirt (wink, wink).

Don't I sound tawdry?  How sad is it that all I'm really saying is that I love when a boatload of salty olive juice masks the medicinal flavor of vodka?

Either way, if you love the dirty, you love the dirty.  And so, naturally, I was mucho excited when I discovered the above twist on a dirty martini at Mohonk Mountain House.

If you're hanging with people originally from NYC and you mention 141 year old property, you'll find that most of them have some story connected with the place: family reunions, yearly summer breaks, a one time family trip gone horribly awry thanks to a couple brats.

(If that last one sounds specific, it's because it was me.)  My parents brought me and my sis up to the property years and years ago and apparently we didn't behave very well.  Ahem.  Maybe it's because the amazing eco-spa hadn't been built yet???  I could just sense the absence even then, I'm sure.

Still, when we arrived, there wasn't a wanted poster of my six-year-old self tacked to a bulletin board or anything. So, it couldn't have been that bad.

Anyway, I discovered the above cocktail, aptly titled a The Dilly Tini, in their Carriage Lounge.  It's made with, well, what it sounds like: either dill pickle juice OR the dill juice used to pickle the above string bean.

Since I haven't quite shamed my childhood self enough yet today, I'll just go ahead and admit that, as a kid, I also occasionally drank pickle juice.  And, while I abstain from that behavior these days (um, swollen much?), my taste for the stuff has not diminished (as evidenced by my previous mentions of both Pickled Veggie of the Month Club and pickled string beans).

See, this is what I call a dirty martini with a capital "D."  That's right.  "D" for dill.

xo – N.