Our recent show on cocktails with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was a revelation for Sporkful fan (and cocktail photo-sharer) Linda in Boston. Rachel was very clear that she never eats the garnish in drinks, and that has Linda, a martini drinker, "all of a sudden rethinking my adult beverages." She also says her father, a frugal drinker, has a very specific garnish strategy:
He asks for his olives on the side, theory being the olives displace the booze and he would get less per glass. With the olive skewer lain across the top or on a saucer, he can add them after consuming his first mouthful and his wallet beats more gently against his pocket.
It's a good point that I hadn't thought about, and I am also a very frugal person. So I respect the sentiment, but I still like the flavor a single olive adds to my dry martini, even if it costs me a couple milliliters of gin. /mark
