dry sherry

For mixological purposes, “dry sherry” is a generic umbrella for a range of official sherry styles that are intrinsically bone-dry (not at all sweet). (Sweet and sweetened sherry styles also exist for other purposes.) What primarily distinguishes the dry sherry styles is the degree of oxidation, with fino and manzanilla sherries being unoxidized, amontillado and palo cortado being partly oxidized, and olosoro being 100% oxidized. To oversimplify, the oxidation introduces more nutty flavors. Almost all recipes that simply specify “sherry” without any qualifier are calling for one of these dry sherries, and it is up to your discretion which to select. Some mid-20th century recipes may have a sweetened sherry blend in mind (i.e., “cocktail sherry” or “medium sherry”).