Wet -- But Dry

• Wine or liquor is said to be "dry" if it lacks sweetness. For example, white wines often have a sweet, fruity flavor; this is much less likely in dry white wines. The term is also commonly applied to gin. In wine, sweetness is caused by unfermented sugars remaining in the mixture. As a result, dry wines, where all the sugar has fermented, are typically higher in alcohol than sweet ones. Because of this, "dry" can also sometimes simply refer to a wine or spirit's high alcohol content.

Nothing Dry About Vodka

• The term "dry" almost never applies to vodkas, because vodka is flavorless. It can't be more or less sweet because it lacks any sweetness in the first place. Flavored vodkas may be sweet, but they are flavored with additives. Similarly, almost all vodka has the same level of alcohol, at 40 percent by volume. As a result, the sweet-dry distinction doesn't really apply to vodka.

Mixing a Martini

• Although vodka itself is rarely described as sweet or dry, it can add dryness to a mixed drink. The traditional martini is a mixture of gin and vermouth, but you can also make a martini featuring vodka. The more vodka in the mixture, the less sweet -- or "drier" -- the martini will be. A "dry" vodka martini contains little vermouth in proportion to the vodka -- as little as 18 parts vodka to one of vermouth. An "extra dry" vodka martini recipe often involves some ritual such as rinsing the glass with vermouth, emptying it, then filling it with vodka.

Dry Vodka

• Although rare, vodka that is branded "dry" to denote varieties with a higher-than-average have been seen on store shelves. For example, vodka distiller Smirnoff advertised Smirnoff Silver Dry in the 1970s and 1980s. This vodka was slightly more than 45 percent alcohol by volume. The term "dry" is more commonly seen on bottles of gin.