A martini lover's heaven, that's what was on offer at bar Three Six Six in Battersea on Tuesday January 17 as experts and lovers of the cocktail gathered to select the World's Best Martini.

Dry January certainly went out of the window as guests were greeted by an array of gins, which were all being mixed into martini tasters for drink enthusiasts to try.

There were five gins on offer, Hepple Gin, Brooklyn Gin, Darnley's View Gin, Daffys Gin and Caorunn Gin, narrowed down from gins from across the world to take part in the World's Best Martini challenge.

Each was whisked up especially for a panel of four judges, which included the founders of World's Best Martini, James Thomas and Gary Sharp.

One which caught my eye was the Darnley's View Gin, using fire to impress the crowds, cinnamon was burned and infused into the glasses, as you can see from the video, a lot of thought went into the making of these world class cocktails, but only one would be crowned the World's Best Martini.

Co-founder of World's Best Martini, Mr Thomas, said the idea for the competition was conjured up over the much loved cocktail, whilst in Heathrow Airport .

He said: "We kicked this off probably around three, four years ago, we were both travelling quite alot."

Guests were invited to try martinis

Whilst sipping on a Tanqueray 10 martini in Gordon Ramsay Plane Food, Mr Thomas and Mr Sharp had an idea.

Mr Thomas said: "We were thinking, I wonder if there was a better martini somewhere else, where would we go, because we were watching all these destinations go up on the board, thinking, well we could go somewhere else, but would we know it was the right place to go, let's ask someone."

So naturally, they took to Twitter to invite people to tell them where to go to taste the best martini.

After numerous responses, they set up World's Best Martini, using their favourite Tanqueray 10 as the benchmark ingredient.

But on Tuesday, following a rigorous tasting process, the crown was stolen away from Tanqueray 10.

So what were they looking for in the new benchmark ingredient?

Mr Thomas said: "It's just that one which is the most satisfying to drink, because our followers and the people who are looking at this will be drinking it typically in a classic dry, extra dry martini."

And after sipping on my fourth, maybe fifth Martini, I wondered, what is actually in a martini?

"They are officially the simplest recipe, two items, gin and vermouth," Mr Sharp.

He adds: "It's the hardest to get just right.

"Different people have different ideas of what the right ratio of vermouth to gin is, again different gins make a complete different taste, so it's picking the right gin, the right ration and the right vermouth."

There were four judges on the panel

After tasting the five different martinis, the judges finally reached a decision.

They said it was a tough decision, but there could only be one winner.

Drum Roll...

Yes Daffys Gin is now the benchmark gin for the World's Best Martini.

Taking to Twitter, the company said it was delighted.

So Daffy's Gin of Scotland took the crown, and now you could be seeing this gin in martinis across the world.

Mr Sharp said: "Ideally we want to have it in bars across the world, you go in and you order the World's Best Martini and you'll get our winning gin tonight, mixed the way it should be mixed."

And when ordering the World's Best Martini, well it would appear James Bond has it wrong, it should be stirred, not shaken.

Mr Sharp advises: "You should stir a gin martini because you don't want the ice crystals in it, because it has to be perfectly clear."

And not just once, you should stir it ideally 18 times for the perfect martini.

So next time you order a cocktail, why not try the World's Best Martini? Stirred not shaken.

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