"In The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Drinks (2008), renowned bartender and author Dale DeGroff writes that originally, a “dry martini” indicated a cocktail made with gin and dry vermouth, as opposed to sweet vermouth. He says that only later in the 20th century did the order come to mean a martini with little to no vermouth, and advocates for a return to a “wetter” martini.
“DeGroff is opinionated,” says Weston Simons, manager of Santa Fe Spirits Downtown Tasting Room (308 Read St., 505-780-5906, santafespirits.com). But so is Simons, who claims to have been bartending for family parties since he was 8 years old. “A lot of times, people order extra-dry martinis because they’ve had a martini with spoiled vermouth, which tastes terrible, and they never want a martini with vermouth again. I get that. I respect that.” "
Read the full article in Pasatiempo!