Dry Martini

The Dry Martini is the archetypal spirit-forward cocktail: cold London dry gin laced with just enough dry vermouth, stirred to a silky chill and served straight up with a lemon twist or an olive. It crystallized into its recognizable bone-dry form in the early 20th century as French vermouth and London dry gin displaced the sweeter, Old Tom–based Martinez that likely preceded it. Its origins remain happily contested — claimed variously by San Francisco's Occidental Hotel, New York's Knickerbocker, and the Martini vermouth house — but its austere elegance has never been in doubt.