Desecration

Thanks for the wonderful history of the martini (“There Is Something About a Martini,” July/August issue). Nedjeljko Matura’s cover and photograph on page 51 are excellent as well.

However, I would like to point out that in both pictures, the olive in the martini is a salad olive—that is, it has a pimiento in it. It should be a cocktail olive—a plain olive without a pit or any addition.

A pimiento radically changes the taste of the drink, and not for the better. My bottle of Bombay gin just shuddered!