Dry

What does "dry" mean?

If you order your martini "dry", noticeably less vermouth goes into the glass than in the classic ratio. The gin takes the lead role, and the drink tastes drier, cleaner and more spirit-forward. For an even more extreme version, order it "extra dry": just a whisper of vermouth, or none at all.

There is actually a little history lesson behind the name: in the 19th century, the martini was still mixed with sweet, Italian vermouth, and its predecessor was the Martinez. Around the turn of the century, French vermouth came into fashion, which was dry and lightly bitter. The drink made with dry vermouth became the "Dry Martini" and pushed the sweet version aside. The name comes from that era and has stuck around, even though the amount of vermouth has kept shrinking ever since.

The levels of dry

• Dry: less vermouth, the gin clearly dominates
• Extra dry: just a whisper of vermouth, almost pure ice-cold gin
• In and out: the vermouth is briefly swirled in the glass and poured back out, then the gin goes in

If you like, you can even order a version with no vermouth at all. That is effectively ice-cold gin in a martini glass, which has its own charm, though strictly speaking it is no longer a martini. Then again, on a good evening, that hardly matters.

Don't mix them up: dry does not always mean the same thing

"Dry" has several meanings in the bar world, and that is the most common confusion:

• Dry martini: less vermouth in the drink, referring to the amount
• Dry gin / dry vermouth: "dry" in taste, meaning not sweet, this describes the style of the ingredient
• Dry wine: here again, dry simply means no noteworthy sweetness

And to the direct neighbour: dry controls the amount of vermouth, dirty means a splash of olive brine for a salty note. The two combine beautifully, in which case you order a "dry dirty martini".

A nice bar anecdote to finish

Extreme dryness has inspired some of bar culture's best jokes. Winston Churchill supposedly liked his martini very dry and had a ritual for it: instead of adding vermouth, he would allegedly just bow briefly in the direction of France. Whether that is true is anyone's guess, but as an anecdote it is wonderful. If you order an extra dry martini with us, you are guaranteed to get real, properly measured vermouth, promise.