This Tuesday, June 19 was National Martini Day, and while that day is passed, it offered a perfect excuse to delve into the Hamptons and North Fork restaurants and bars serving Dan’s Best of the Best Cocktails.

The martini is one of America’s most widely-known and easily recognizable drinks, distinguished by its signature glass and typical olive or lemon peel garnish.

Though the drink’s exact origin is unclear, the name may have come about when an Italian vermouth maker began marketing his product under the brand name Martini, after its director Alessandro Martini, in 1863.

Martinis have evolved over the years in terms of ratio and technique, but the most basic recipe is a mixture of gin and vermouth. The drink can be made dry, dirty or perfect, depending on your preference as is traditionally consumed before dinner.

According to Conrad, Barnaby, III’s 1995 book The Martini: An Illustrated History of an American Classic, E.B. White once called this cocktail “the elixir of quietude.” Edmunds, Lowell’s Martini, Straight Up: The Classic American Cocktail has endlessly quotable journalist and satirist H.L. Mencken saying it was “the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet.”

The Martini also happens to be James Bond’s drink of choice—shaken, not stirred.

If you too want to be like 007 or experience an invention as perfect as the sonnet, Dan’s has you covered with some of the best cocktails on the East End. These restaurants won titles under the Cocktails category in our Dan’s Best of the Best 2017 competition, as voted by Dan’s Papers readers.

Find more of the East End’s best businesses and personalities at DansBOTB.com.

HAMPTONS

Platinum
Rumba Rum Bar
43 Canoe Place, Hampton Bays
631-594-3544, rumbahamptonbays.com

Gold
Dockers Waterside
94 Dune Road, East Quogue
631-653-0653, dockerswaterside.com

Silver
The American Hotel & Restaurant
25 Main Street, Sag Harbor
631-725-3535, theamericanhotel.com

Bronze (tie)
75 Main
75 Main Street, Southampton
631-283-7575, 75main.com

Bronze (tie)
c/o The Maidstone
207 Main Street, East Hampton
631-324-5006, themaidstone.com

NORTH FORK

Platinum
North Fork Taps & Corks
53345 Main Road, Southold
631-876-5246

Gold
A Touch of Venice
28350 Main Road, Mattituck
631-298-5851, touchofvenice.com

Silver
Spiro’s Lounge & Restaurant
4 Patchogue Drive, Rocky Point
631-744-4100, spiroslounge.com

Bronze
Brix & Rye
308 Main Street, Greenport
631-477-6985, brixandrye.com