Here’s the short answer: It depends on your personality. Are you a person who likes to negotiate? Order the regular Martini. Do you want to intimidate your date? Order the Dry Martini. Are you trying to appear sophisticated while secretly panicking? Order a vodka Martini (shaken, not stirred) and apologize to no one.
I once made the mistake of ordering a Dry Martini on a first date. I spent the whole evening trying to act cool while my throat felt like it was being sandblasted. Pro tip: if you’re nervous, go with the regular Martini. It will hold your hand. The Dry Martini will judge your career choices.
A Little History for Overachievers
The classic Martini evolved from the Martinez, a sweeter, Old Tom gin-based cocktail from the 1800s. The Dry Martini became a thing in the early 1900s, thanks to prohibition-era tastes—people wanted to taste the booze, not the mixer. By the 1940s, the Dry Martini was the undisputed king of cocktails, a symbol of power and restraint. Winston Churchill famously said a Dry Martini was made with a “glass of gin and a bow in the direction of France” (where the vermouth came from). See? Intimidating.
