The martini is a cocktail mae with gin and dry white vermouth or sweet red vermouth, although substituting vodka for gin is now common. It is often described as being "crisp" or "astringent". Over the years, the martini has become one of the most well-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken once called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet",and E. B. White called it "the elixir of quietude". Freelance writer Barbara Holland referred to the martini in her 2007 book The Joy of Drinking as "the definitive drink—called simply a 'drink'—among those who felt that what you drank was part of respectability, your background, and your social, professional and educational standing." It is also the proverbial drink of the one-time "three-martini lunch" of business executives, now largely abandoned as part of companies' "fitness for duty" programs.