W. Somerset Maugham, the famous British novelist, was a huge fan of Noilly Prat French vermouth for his martinis, and once said: “You can make a sidecar, a gimlet, a white lady, or a gin and bitters, but you cannot make a dry martini.” He also believed that “martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other.”
The Martini Hour 