Gibson (cocktail) bartenders' guides sometimes gave the recipe as 50/50 gin and vermouth, Gibsons in the early days were much drier than other martinis. A third version, supported by Kazuo Uyeda in "Cocktail Techniques", states that Gibsons started as very dry martinis garnished with a cocktail onion to distinguish them from traditional martinis, but as the fondness for drier martinis became popular the onion became the only difference. There is no direct evidence that Charles Dana, or any other Gibson, created the drink. But, Charles Dana Gibson was certainly the artist who created the Gibson Girl illustrations—popular from the 1890s through about
Vermouth first, martinis used sweet vermouth. Around 1904, however, drier French vermouths began to be used in the cocktail. The term "dry martini" originally meant using a drier vermouth as a mixer, not using less vermouth, as the term is used today. Sharon Tyler Herbst's book, "The Ultimate A-To-Z Bar Guide", lists 112 cocktails using dry vermouth and 82 containing sweet vermouth. Cocktails using either dry or sweet vermouth or both include the Americano, Bronx, Gibson, Manhattan, Negroni, Rob Roy, and Rose. Variations of cocktail recipes using equal portions of dry and sweet vermouths are called "perfect", as in a "Perfect