Dry Vermouth
A fortified wine with herbal complexity and minimal sweetness. Essential for martinis and other classic cocktails requiring botanical depth without sugar. It’s used in 27 cocktails on Garnish.
Flavor Profile
History & Origins
Dry vermouth was developed in France in the 18th century as a drier alternative to Italian sweet vermouth. It became essential to classic cocktails during the golden age of mixology.
How It's Made
White wine fortified with neutral spirits and flavored with wormwood and other botanicals, with minimal added sugar.
Pro Tips
- •Refrigerate after opening and use within 3 months
- •French vermouths tend to be drier than Italian
- •Use a light hand - a little goes a long way
Substitutes
Recommended Brands
Cocktails
Classic Martini
The king of cocktails—minimalist, elegant and endlessly riffed—balancing aromatic gin with a restrained measure of vermouth. Orange bitters optional.
Dirty Martini
The savory martini variation enriched with olive brine—salty, crisp, and bracing.
Kangaroo (Vodka Martini)
The vodka martini—vodka stirred very cold with dry vermouth.
Brooklyn
Rye, dry vermouth, maraschino, and bitter orange liqueur—a pre‑Prohibition Manhattan cousin with floral funk and Picon‑style bite.
Dirty Vodka Martini
Vodka, dry vermouth, and a lick of olive brine—icy, saline, and savory with briny olives to finish.
Extra Dirty Martini
A brinier martini—gin or vodka with dry vermouth and a generous splash of olive brine.
Perfect Manhattan
The pinnacle of cocktail balance, splitting vermouth between sweet and dry styles to achieve sophisticated equilibrium between whiskey's spice and vermouth's complexity.
50/50 Martini
Equal parts gin and dry vermouth with a dash of orange bitters—silky, aromatic, and lower proof.
Clover Club
Pre-Prohibition gin sour colored with raspberry and crowned with a dry-shaken egg white foam.
Scofflaw
Prohibition Paris classic—peppery rye with dry vermouth, lemon, real grenadine, and orange bitters for a crisp, ruby sour.
Gibson
A dry gin martini garnished with cocktail onions—clean, crisp, and subtly savory.
Old Pal
A bracing Negroni cousin—rye, dry vermouth, and Campari in equal parts for a spicy, bone‑dry aperitivo.
Perfect Martini
Not just a well-made cocktail, but a specific variation that bridges Sweet and Dry Martinis with equal parts of both vermouths, creating sophisticated balance and complexity.
Tuxedo
A late-19th-century martini offshoot with dry vermouth, a touch of maraschino, and aromatic absinthe and bitters.
Dirty Gibson
A savory martini twist—gin and dry vermouth seasoned with cocktail onion brine and garnished with a pearl onion.
Obituary Cocktail
A potent and aromatic spin on the classic Gin Martini, distinguished by a haunting whisper of absinthe. Born in New Orleans, this cocktail offers complex, herbaceous, and licorice-tinged flavors.
Francophile Martini
A sophisticated French twist on the classic Martini, marrying botanical French gin with Dolin Dry vermouth and Esprit de June's ethereal grape flower essence for an elegant aperitif.
Perfect Hanky Panky
A sophisticated variation of the classic Hanky Panky that splits the vermouth between sweet and dry styles, achieving perfect balance between botanical gin and herbal complexity.
Turf Club
A sophisticated gin cocktail that bridges the gap between the sweeter Martinez and the drier Martini, featuring complex aromatics from maraschino liqueur and absinthe.
Vodka Gibson
A study in elegant austerity, this cocktail strips the Martini to its barest essentials and pivots with a single, savory grace note—the distinctive umami of a pickled onion.
Tuxedo #2
A sophisticated Martini variation featuring subtle complexity from maraschino liqueur and an absinthe rinse, representing the elegant cocktail culture of the Gilded Age.
Tuxedo #3
A sophisticated Martini variation distinguished by the addition of fino sherry, which adds unique nutty and saline complexity to this elegant gin cocktail from the Golden Age.
Cardinale
A sophisticated Italian aperitivo featuring gin, dry vermouth, and Campari – a perfect balance of botanical complexity and bitter elegance.
Rose Cocktail
A delicate and elegant vermouth-based cocktail from 1920s Paris, featuring French dry vermouth, kirschwasser, and raspberry syrup with a beautiful pink hue.
Rumpletini
A modern, potent cocktail defined by the bracing, high-proof peppermint schnapps Rumple Minze, representing the late 20th century '-tini' craze with its intense flavor and simplicity.
Rosemary Gibson
A modern aromatic twist on the classic Gibson, featuring gin, dry vermouth, and a fresh rosemary sprig that adds herbal complexity to the savory cocktail onion garnish.
Marguerite
A pivotal moment in cocktail history, representing the crucial evolutionary link between the sweeter gin cocktails of the 19th century and the iconically dry Martini of the 20th.