I'm a martini enthusiast. It is the cocktail I drink the most since I usually drink whiskey as whiskey.

The martini is ordered with more specificity than any other cocktail. Drinkers pick their preferences of spirit, quantity of vermouth, and garnish. Getting the balance wrong can throw off the flavor of your perfect martini.

What is a martini? A martini is a drink made with booze, aromatized wine, and not much else. Primarily gin and/or vodka with vermouth and a garnish.

What is a perfect martini? The one you like.

The four key factors to balance for your perfect martini.

1. The base spirit

2. Quantity of Vermouth

3. Dilution & temperature

4. Garnish

The first part of making a balanced martini is picking your base spirit.

Your base spirit is the foundation, the core of your drink. All the other factors are balanced around it to make it taste like you like it. There are hundreds or thousands of options across gins and vodkas. I'll talk about some recommendations another time. Remember, if you change your base spirit, you will need to rebalance everything.

The second part is how much vermouth you use.

The quantity of vermouth can make or break your martini. It might be the most crucial part of creating the balance needed for your perfect martini. There is no wrong answer, only what you like.

A dry martini only uses a whisper, if any, vermouth, whereas a wet martini is equal portions of spirit and vermouth. The first will taste mainly like the spirit you chose. The second will be herbaceous.

What I call the standard or base martini is somewhere in the middle. For gin it is 2 parts to 1 part vermouth. For vodka it is 2 parts to 1/2 part vermouth. The mostly neutral flavor of vodka needs less vermouth than its highly flavored counterpart, gin. So figure out how herbaceous you want it and start playing around.

The third part of creating balance is dilution and temperature.

A martini should be cold, like really f*ng cold. The two primary methods are stirring or shaking with ice. I'll cover shaken vs stirred another time. At room temperature, with little dilution, it will taste disjointed, unbalanced, and mixed. Too much dilution, and it will taste watery. This is something that takes practice. My go-to at home is around 20 seconds of stirring or shaking. I've also had a restaurant serve me a 10-minute martini that was damn good. Unless they put it in the freezer, I haven't figured out how they did that.

The last step is garnishing or seasoning.

This has a significant impact on flavor. Add olives for a hint of brininess or a lemon twist for a crisp brightness. You can use any garnish or none, depending on your preference.

What I love about a martini is that it can be anything you want.