“The martini evolves,” says cocktail historian David Wondrich. “It has evolved since it was born.” Sadly, it has become stunted and mutated in recent decades, and so to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, perhaps it’s best to go back to the beginning and start the evolution all over again. If the era of American exceptionalism truly is coming to a close, I sincerely hope the postwar-era dry martini goes with it. The Greatest Generation was great for many reasons. But can we finally, at long last, be honest about one crucial thing? That generation’s taste in martinis is awful. Does any cocktail invite more bloviation than the Very Dry Martini? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know how you take your martini, Gramps: no vermouth. I should just whisper the word “vermouth” while I mix it? Never heard that one before!
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