Vermouth, a Drink that You Should Definitely Add to Your Bar.
Are one of these names any familiar to you? Noilly Prat, Punt E Mes, Martini, Dolin, Cinzano… No it’s not your grand-father favorite drink, this is Vermouth.
What was once America’s most glamorous drink, vermouth is the next big thing in the world of wines & spirits. Used in the mix of the best cocktails menus around the world, vermouth has a rich history that has to be told.
“Dare to break away from dry cocktails and rediscover vermouth, the spirit that started it all”.
-Adam Ford (founder of Atsby New York Vermouth).
VERMOUTH IS AN APERITIF WINE
With the goal“to open the appetite”, aperitif wines are fortified and aromatized wines with a variety of herbs and spices that add flavor and color to it.
“Vermouth is one of the most versatile tools in a bartender’s palette. It can add body and complexity to spirit-based cocktails. And it can be served on its own with the addition of very little other flavor.”
-says Aaron Paul, beverage director of Daniel Patterson’s Alta Group, in San Francisco.
Vermouth is a fantastic addition to your bar, an amazing cocktail ingredient that has been ignored for too long. You will find many ways to enjoy it and soon everything you need to know for that purpose.
ABOUT THE MAKING PROCESS…
Fortified means that the alcohol content has been increased with the addition of a spirit, in general a neutral grape brandy.
Aromatized means that the wine has been infused with various botanicals (bitter roots, herbs, barks and spices).
The process of making vermouth is tedious, each producer keeping secret their own recipe of herbs and botanicals.
It measures in general between 13–24% alcohol by volume.
STORY
Vermouth comes from the word “wormwood” or “wermut” (in German). It happens that Hungarian and German used to infuse their wines with wormwood. This was the starting point of it and has long been the main botanical for vermouth.
It originated in France and Italy as a tonic for medicinal purposes helping the stomach to settle.
In 1786, Italian Antonio Benedetto Carpano created in Turin the first sweet vermouth.
The dry version appeared in 1800 in France, created by Joseph Noilly.
These are names of the most popular brands produced today: Noilly Prat and Carpano.
It is good to know that these regions shared the tradition of producing wine and the various botanicals necessary to produce vermouth.
Its commercialization at a larger scale as an aperitif started in the mid-1800s with the focus on international markets. The harbors of Marseilles, Genova, Venice, even Barcelona played key roles for the importation of exotic botanicals and the export of the product to new markets, particularly the Indies (Americas).
Vermouth became popular primarily as an apéritif, eventually finding its way into the rotation of bartenders as a building block ingredient around the turn of the century.
Before the Prohibition in the United States, vermouth was so popular that its sales outnumbered wine.
VERMOUTH CAN BE GROUPED INTO FOUR CATEGORIES
· Sweet Red (mostly Italian, Red or “Rosso”)
· Dry (mostly French, white)
· Sweet White (or Bianco)
· Rosé.
It exists a broad styles today, and their diversity is steadily increasing.
The interest in aromatized wine and aperitifs continues to grow along with the number of producers committed to adding another different style of the drink into the mix.
For example, Adam Ford is proud to make Atsby, a vermouth made in New York state.
BRANDS TO LOOK FOR
Carpano, Cinzano, Dolin, Noilly Prat, Punt e Mes (sweet), Tribuno are good brands to start with.
Most of them are in general reasonably priced ($10–25 750 ml). You will find them near sherries and ports in any liquor stores.
ENJOYING VERMOUTH
Its taste can be defined by different components such as bitterness, sweetness, acidity and its botanical profile.
Even in the past, at its beginning, it was rarely enjoyed straight. The addition of soda, tonic, or any other alcohols is best to enjoy it.
If you’re curious in simply enjoying Vermouth to really taste it, try it with some soda with a twist of orange or lemon.
There are countless cocktails and mixed drinks that employ vermouth such as the classic Gin Martini (with dry vermouth) and the Manhattan (sweet vermouth).
GOOD TO KNOW
You can keep it for a few month, if stores in the refrigerator, away from light, using a “wine pump” or inert gas system in order to reduce the oxygen in the bottle.
DON’T BE MISTAKEN
Other wine aperitifs aren’t vermouth even if they have a lot in common with it.
For instance, “quinquina” and “Americano” are not vermouth even if many consider them as such.
Quiquina defining flavor isquinine and Americano gentian and wormwood. (Americano refers to the word “amer” (bitter)).
NOW WHAT?
BARCELONA IS A FANTASTIC DESTINATION TO DRINK IT
This is very common in the catalan capital to sip on vermouth while nibbling on tapas with your friends, or fer el vermut as the catalans call it. This is a ritual, an essential part of life for them. La hora del vermut — the time for vermouth — starts in the early afternoon, around midday and is traditionally enjoyed as a pre-lunch aperitif. You can order vermouth almost anywhere in Barcelona.
You can either travel to Barcelona or choose to practice at home this weekly Catalonian tradition. Enjoy with your friends and family a glass of vermouth peppered with a spray of seltzer and an olive or two.
MAKE YOUR OWN COCKTAIL AT HOME
Manhattan (Old Standard, c. 1884)
1½ oz straight rye whiskey or bourbon whiskey*
1½ oz red vermouth
1–2 dashes orange bitters, Angostura Bitters or Peychaud’s Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
For best results, use a 100-proof or 101-proof whiskey.
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