Dry Martini

Gin and dry vermouth stirred cold — the Martinez of 1887 progressively dried as Hemingway, Churchill, and W.C. Fields each argued for less vermouth than the last.

The Dry Martini evolved from the sweeter Martinez of the 1880s through a sequence of substitutions that each moved the drink toward greater dryness and sophistication. The Martinez — documented in Jerry Thomas's 1887 revised Bar-Tenders Guide and combining Old Tom gin with Italian sweet vermouth, maraschino, and orange bitters — gradually transformed as London Dry gin replaced the sweetened Old Tom style and French dry vermouth displaced Italian sweet vermouth in American fashion. By the 1890s, the cocktail now called a Martini was recognizable in its modern form, though the ratio of gin to vermouth remained roughly equal or two-to-one. The progressive drying of the recipe — the steady reduction of vermouth's proportion through the early and mid-20th century — became one of the most documented cultural phenomena in cocktail history, tied to shifting American ideas about sophistication. Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, W.C. Fields, and dozens of other cultural figures associated with the mid-20th century's vision of American elegance weighed in on the ideal preparation, each arguing for less vermouth than the last. The Martini became the defining emblem of mid-century American professional and social culture, appearing in more novels, films, and advertising images than any other drink. The craft cocktail revival argued for vermouth's rehabilitation and the return of meaningful quantities of quality fresh vermouth.