Bernard De Voto,Twain scholar and cocktail aficionado, on cocktail hour and the exalting properties of the ideal martini (3.7-to-1 ratio of "White Satin" to vermouth, "five hundred pounds of ice," and a lemon twist): "This is the violet hour, the hour of hush and wonder, when the affections glow and valor is reborn, when the shadows deepen along the edge of the forest and we believe that, if we watch carefully, at any moment we may see the unicorn. But it would not be a martini if we should see him."
