NewYorkFirst.com: Two-Piece Martini Chiller

Skinny-Dipping with Greta Garbo.

The Martini is, if not the greatest drink in the entire civilized world, without question the greatest drink at the corner of 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. That's the address of the bar named after the cocktail, and the inspiration for the 2-piece Martini Chiller.

According to author Barnaby Conrad III, "A great Martini should be like skinny-dipping in a Nordic lake with Greta Garbo -- teeth-chatteringly cold." In a long quest to serve the coldest Martini, liquid ingredients have been stored in the freezer, garnishes have been well-chilled in the refrigerator. Glasses, even cocktail shakers, have been frosted before serving. Ian Fleming's James Bond had his Martini "shaken, not stirred" in an attempt to quickly chill the drink without diluting it.

But the secret of New York's coldest Martini is the specially-designed glass chiller, a V-shaped conical Martini glass that fits atop a balloon-shaped bowl. When the bowl is filled with crushed ice, it provides the most practical method yet devised for keeping the drink as cold as possible for as long as possible.

Not since President Franklin Roosevelt mixed the first Martini in the White House to celebrate the end of national Prohibition in 1933 has there been a more important innovation to the supreme American cocktail.

Crushed Ice Made Easy
Fill the bowls of your Deluxe Martini Chillers with crushed ice made by the Ice-O-Mat, a masterpiece of Art Deco. An exact replica of a spiffy 1939 design, the hard-working Ice-O-Mat crushes ice directly into your glasses. All-metal with sharp-cutting blades of hardened steel. CLICK HERE for more information.