My name is S... Mike S... One of the film franchises I grew up watching was " James Bond ".  As a fan, I always wanted to try a, "martini- shaken, not stirred..."  Well, recently, I took the plunge and gave it a try. It's a fairly easy drink to make: pour gin and vermouth into a shaker filled with ice.  Shake.  Pour.  Add the iconic martini olive.  Drink. The first thing I noticed was the swirly "oil and water" sort of appearance to the martini.  It was... interesting, but didn't actually do a lot to appeal to me.  The second thing I noticed was that it was actually kinda bitter from the gin.  There were hints of something else- which I assume was the vermouth.  Each sip was different due to the inconsistent way the two mixed, which made the experience a bit more intriguing to me. Personally, I'm not fond of a plain martini.  Having said that, I do believe it is a great starting point for a bit of exploration.  Instead o...