The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive and/or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. A common variation, the vodka martini, uses vodka instead of gin for the cocktail's base spirit.
A martini with an olive garnish
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink or non alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, shrubs, and bitters. Cocktails vary widely across regions of the world, and many websites publish both original recipes and their own interpretations of older and more famous cocktails.
A martini served in a cocktail glass
Queen Mary, a North American cocktail, made by combining beer, grenadine and Maraschino cherries
The first known definition of a cocktail, by Harry Croswell
A Tom Collins, serviced in a glass of the same name.