I normally like my martinis to be classic: clean and very dry, with lemon.

However, an occasional saline dousing of olive brine to ease one into the end of the day, can really activate – and then anaesthetise – the synapses.

The Dirty Martini stimulates and then sedates the drinker through the course of a serving.

Here are some recent ones for some visual enjoyment.

A Selection

A cold salty one on a dimly lit evening in the kitchen.

I enjoyed this one alongside some delicious Octopus Carpaccio. The herbed olives were tasty, although I am not accustomed to flecks of parsley in my silver bullet.

The ‘tears’ run down the inside of the glass as the light, and the noise of the day, fade further.

This was a very nice cold one, in the garden on a tranquil Spring evening on the Isle of Mull.

This was my first dirty martini of the year. I like how the little bit of dribblage down the side made an elegant and almost coquettish streak of clear glass through the chilled frosting to reveal the buxom Greek Halkidiki olives nestled in the drink.

And finally, an evening in London with some typical overindulgence in the serving.

There will be more to come!