Originally Posted by
TMOliver
In my youthful drinking days, there was a time in the US, especially in NYC, when better saloons poured (Dewar's) White Label from the well for Scotch drinkers and stuck with Gordon's for Martinis. Vermouth? The market demanded "French", most often Noilly Pratt, as a cut above the Italians.
Well, yeah. French vermouth is a synonym for dry vermouth, and Italian for sweet. Dry vermouth goes in a martini.