There is no single best vermouth for a Dry Martini. The right one depends on the style you are after: crisp and traditional, light and alpine, English and floral, small-batch Italian, modern German, or a savoury Vesper-shaped twist. If you want our answer first, the one we reach for is our own SCHOFIELD'S, and below we set it alongside the classics we keep on the shelf so you can find the style that suits you.
We make vermouth at Asterley Bros, so take our enthusiasm for SCHOFIELD'S accordingly. The other bottles here are the traditional classics and styles you will meet, because a guide that only pointed at our own would not be much use to you.
Why the vermouth matters more than you think
A Dry Martini is gin (or vodka) and dry vermouth, stirred with ice and strained into a chilled glass with a lemon twist or an olive. Two ingredients, and a garnish. That simplicity is exactly why the vermouth carries more weight than people give it credit for. Change the vermouth and you change the Martini, even at the low ratios most bartenders pour.
The Dry Martini sits behind the Old Fashioned and the Negroni as one of the most-ordered classics at the world's best bars, per Drinks International's 2025 survey, an annual poll of award-winning bars. It has been a fixture in the top ten for as long as the list has existed.
What you want from a Martini vermouth is three things: enough dryness to keep the drink crisp rather than cloying, enough aromatic complexity to give the gin something to talk to, and enough structure to hold up at low ratios. A heavy, sweet vermouth will make the drink muddy. A vermouth with no character of its own disappears entirely. After that, it comes down to the style of Martini you want.
A note on ratios. The "wet" tradition (three or four parts gin to one part vermouth) is closer to what is served at the world's best bars now. The "in-and-out" Martini, where vermouth is rinsed around the glass and discarded, is a mid-twentieth-century American invention that almost everyone has quietly walked back from. We use 5:1 to 3:1 at home depending on the gin.
Our pick: Asterley Bros SCHOFIELD'S
SCHOFIELD'S is our English Dry Vermouth (Gold, World Vermouth Awards 2021; 2 stars, Great Taste 2020), a collaboration with the Schofield brothers, bartenders Joe and Daniel. We macerate 28 botanicals in spirit and blend them with a base of English white wines, finishing aromatic and fragrant with a bouquet of white flowers on the nose and a clean citrus finish on the palate. In a Martini that means a brighter, more floral drink that still has the structure to hold up against gin: an English take rather than a French copy, and the bottle we reach for first. You can buy it on our own website, and our range is stocked by the likes of Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols and Jeroboams.
If you make a lot of Martinis and want a second English option to rotate in, we also make a limited edition called CUNARD (£30.95), originally commissioned by Cunard for the launch of their ship Queen Anne. It is made with dulse seaweed alongside lemon peel, peppermint, rosemary, thyme, rose petal and gentian, and finishes with a layer of salinity and minerality that is quite distinct from SCHOFIELD'S, giving you some of what a splash of olive brine adds to a Dirty Martini, built into the bottle.
The traditional French classic: Noilly Prat Original Dry
A traditional French classic, made in Marseillan on the Mediterranean coast since 1813. Noilly Prat Original Dry is herbal and slightly briny, with an oxidative quality that comes from ageing the base wines in cask outdoors before blending, and it makes a classic French-style Dry Martini.
The light, alpine option: Dolin Dry
Lighter on its feet than the Noilly, with alpine botanicals, white flowers and citrus. Made in Chambéry in the French Alps, Dolin Dry has more aromatic lift and less of the briny weight. For that kind of brightness with a little more backbone, try our SCHOFIELD'S.
The small-batch Italian
Small-batch Italian dry vermouths, often built on Trebbiano, lean drier and more herbal than the Italian aperitifs people associate with the country, and make a Martini with real structure.
The modern German
Some newer German producers use a Pinot Blanc base for a slightly fuller dry vermouth with a subtle bitter edge that gives the Martini grip.
The savoury Vesper: Cocchi Americano and Lillet Blanc
Both are strictly aperitif wines rather than dry vermouths, and we include them with that caveat, because no Martini guide is complete without the Vesper. Cocchi Americano is gentian-led, bittersweet and citrussy, and it is often used as the closest match to Kina Lillet, the bottle Ian Fleming named when he wrote the Vesper into Casino Royale in 1953 (Kina Lillet was reformulated in 1986). Lillet Blanc is the softer, honeyed substitute many modern Vesper recipes use. Both suit a Vesper at higher ratios rather than a classic Dry Martini.
At a glance
| The Martini you want | The vermouth | Character | Where it is from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our pick: English and floral | Asterley Bros SCHOFIELD'S | English white wines, aromatic flowers, clean citrus | South London |
| Traditional and crisp | Noilly Prat Original Dry | Herbal, slightly briny, oxidative | Marseillan, France |
| Light and aromatic | Dolin Dry | Alpine botanicals, white flowers, citrus | Chambéry, France |
| Italian and small-batch | A small-batch Italian secco | Herbal, drier | Lombardy, Italy |
| Modern and accessible | A modern German dry vermouth | Pinot Blanc base, subtle bitterness | Germany |
| Savoury and gentian-led (Vesper) | Cocchi Americano | Bittersweet, citrussy, gentian-forward | Cocconato, Italy |
| Rich and Vesper-style | Lillet Blanc | Honey, orange peel, softer | Podensac, France |
If you would rather not stir
If you want a Martini without the kit, our best advice is to keep a bottle of SCHOFIELD'S in the fridge, get a decent gin or vodka in there with it, and pour. Stir if you have a spoon and ice; shake if you do not; serve cold either way. The drink is forgiving. The bottle of vermouth is what makes it taste like anything.
If a ready-to-pour Martini is something you would order from us, drop us a line at info@asterleybros.com and let us know.
Want to understand the English style in more depth? Read our guide to English vermouth vs Italian vermouth, or our companion piece on the best vermouths for a Negroni.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best vermouth for a Dry Martini?
It depends on the style, but our pick is our own Asterley Bros SCHOFIELD'S, an English dry vermouth that makes a brighter, more floral Martini with the structure to stand up to gin. The traditional French classics are Noilly Prat Original Dry and the lighter Dolin Dry, and a Vesper traditionally uses an aperitif wine such as Cocchi Americano or Lillet Blanc.
What kind of vermouth goes in a Martini?
Dry (white) vermouth. Sweet (rosso) vermouth is for the Negroni and the Manhattan; in a Martini it would make a much sweeter, weightier drink that does not taste like a Martini.
How much vermouth goes in a Martini?
Anywhere from a small dash up to one part vermouth per three or four parts gin. The "wet" tradition (3:1 or 4:1) is closer to what is served at the world's best bars now. The "in-and-out" Martini, where vermouth is rinsed around the glass and discarded, is a mid-twentieth-century American style most bartenders have walked back from.
Can you use sweet vermouth in a Martini?
You can, but it makes a Sweet Martini, a different drink common in the 1900s and still served occasionally. The dry, transparent Martini most people mean today uses dry vermouth.
Does vermouth need to be kept in the fridge?
Yes. It is wine-based, so once opened it oxidises. Keep it in the fridge and use it within a month or two. A bottle of vermouth left in a warm cupboard for three months is the most common reason a home Martini tastes flat.
Dry Martini, gin or vodka?
Gin is the classic. Vodka came later, after the Second World War, and makes a cleaner, less botanical drink. Both are correct. The vermouth choice matters more in the vodka version because there is less competing flavour from the spirit.
What does "dirty" mean in a Dirty Martini?
Olive brine added to the drink, usually 5 to 10ml. It mutes the vermouth and adds salinity. Some people love it; some find it muddies the drink. If you are using our CUNARD, the maritime salinity already gives you part of that quality without the brine.
Asterley Bros is a London maker of English vermouth, amaro and aperitivo, founded by brothers Rob and Jim Berry in 2014. We make our vermouth in small batches in South London, and yes, we think you should try it in your next Martini.