Classic Dry Martini

Gin and dry vermouth stirred cold — equal parts in the 1880s, fifteen-to-one by Hemingway, the IBA settling on six-to-one and the craft revival arguing for more.

The Classic Dry Martini is the most written-about, argued-over, and culturally mythologized cocktail in history — a two-ingredient preparation whose apparent simplicity conceals an extraordinary range of variation and whose ratio of gin to dry vermouth has been the subject of genuine debate among bartenders, drinkers, writers, and heads of state for over a century. The Martini's documented history begins in the 1880s and 1890s, when it emerged from the earlier, sweeter Martinez into its own distinct identity. The progressive drying of the Martini — the reduction of vermouth's proportion relative to gin — is one of the most documented trends in cocktail history: equal parts in the 1890s recipes became two-to-one by the early 20th century, then four-to-one, then six-to-one (the IBA standard), then the absurdist preparations of the mid-20th century in which Winston Churchill bowed toward France while Noël Coward allegedly wafted vermouth across the glass. Ernest Hemingway described a fifteen-to-one ratio in one of his novels. The craft cocktail revival reversed the trend, championing quality fresh vermouth in meaningful quantities and arguing that the Martini is more interesting and more complex at 50/50 or 3:1 than at 15:1. The IBA recognizes the Dry Martini as an Unforgettable cocktail. Its preparation — gin and dry vermouth stirred over ice and strained into a chilled coupe or Martini glass with an expressed lemon twist or olive — encodes an entire philosophy of cocktail service in a single glass.