I have been reading the official Harvard student agencies bar tending course. I am trying to up the image don't you know. No more pints of Tenants, but classy cocktails.
After a good deal of experimenting I have decided that a good Martini does need some actual vermouth rather than letting the sun shine through the vermouth bottle into the gin.
The book contains many suggestions for cocktails. There is one for a mixture of stout and champagne. The book suggests that you if pour the drinks in VERY slowly you will get a glass with the liquid separated. You can see the results so far. I have never really liked champagne. Sometimes it gets served as part of the pre-dinner drinks part of a conference. I like the challenge of creating this super-cocktail of guiness and champagne. In my minds eye I see myself surrounded by cheering people as I finally create, what the Harvard book describes as a "black velvet". I will give a little bow and say "I have recreated a drink that beats the second law of thermodynamics. My next project is to create a drink that cheats death."
What is more likely to happen is that when I take a glass of champagne from a waiter and pull out a can of stout from my jacket, people will start whispering about "losing it". People will start edging away from me as I hold up a glass of murky black stuff, and start ranting about death and thermodynamics.
Still you can't live you life worrying about what other people think.