It’s ironic, but fitting, that National Dry Martini Day, June 19, coincided with my 21st birthday yesterday. In honor of this boozy holiday, I decided to order a dry martini during my birthday dinner and tell you all about my experience. Unfortunately, because I turned 21 yesterday, there was no way I could try the martini before June 19 because, well, that’s illegal.

First of all, I had no clue what a dry martini is, so I did some research. I discovered that it’s gin with dry vermouth and sometimes olives. I still didn’t know what that would be like; the only thing I knew was that it was going to be very strong.

My birthday dinner was celebrated at Brio in The Woodlands. I was craving Italian food, and it was convenient because they have a bar. So, we sat down and the waiter asked if we wanted to order drinks. I said, “I will have a dry Bombay martini.” The look on the waiter’s face was priceless, and if you looked at me while I ordered that drink, you would be confused too; I don’t look like someone who would drink a dry martini. I’m positive he was expecting me to say I wanted an appletini or a cosmopolitan.

The waiter soon came back with our drinks. He placed mine down in front of me and said, “Well, I hope you don’t hate it.” I then had to explain to him why I was doing this; why I was ordering a dry martini on my 21st birthday. It’s all because of National Dry Martini Day.

So, I took my first sip, having no idea what I was about to put in my mouth, and, well, you probably know the rest. I absolutely hated it. It tasted exactly like cough syrup. Actually, it was worse than cough syrup because the liquor burned all the way down my throat and into my chest. I now know why the waiter was confused; he knew I wouldn’t enjoy that drink at all.

Now, for the appletini … that was good! I believe I am more of a fruity martini girl. It fits my personality so much more. If I am having a rough day — and when I say rough, I mean ROUGH — then I may resort to drinking a dry martini (I’m not condoning drinking when you’re depressed), but I don’t see those days ahead of me in my future, so I will stick to the sweet and fruity drinks.

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This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2012.