Vermouth. Let’s talk about it. In light of our friend and author Adam Ford coming to town to do a book signing at The Boston Shaker in Somerville, and Carl Sutton descending upon us for his annual wine dinners and cocktail events up in Gloucester in a couple weeks, it’s time to shout it from the rooftops. Vermouth is good people! Especially what the few new American producers have been working on for the last few years.
Few libations in the beverage industry have such a contrasting reputation. I mean, I can ask you if you like beer, and the next question might be what kind of beer? The same can be said for categories like whiskey or wine. But with Vermouth, there seems to be a love it, or hate it answer. I am inclined to believe that those who disdain the taste of vermouth, or cringe at the word are having the bad experience (almost all of us have had) when encountering it at a bar, perhaps for the first time. You know what I mean, the tired, sticky, dusty, old bottle of vermouth that has been sitting in some bartenders speed well for months (sometimes years) without having been refrigerated. Well I am here to tell you, there is salvation; and these days, you can choose what kind of style of vermouth you want, one that just might fit your palate.
Let’s start off with some basics. Vermouth is an “Aromatized/Fortified Wine.” This means that a base table (still) wine has been fortified with some kind of distilled spirit, typically an unaged brandy. This pumped up vino is then aromatized by being infused and macerated with spices, roots and other botanicals and typically sweetened. Because it is a wine, it must be kept refrigerated in order to be preserved. You might say, Vermouth is a cocktail itself. Typically drank as an aperitif, Vermouth became popular in cocktails during the mid to late 1800’s when the Manhattan cocktail was starting to become popular. Another fun fact, Vermouth derives from the German word Wermut which translates to Wormwood; one of the original ingredients in European style Vermouth, used as a tonic for medicinal purposes.
Most vermouth with a strong following and history for quality comes from Europe. Italy which produces the irreplaceable Carpano line, and others like Cinzano, tend to be a little sweeter, with a bitter finish (Torino Style), although they do produce dryer alternatives with less caramel added. France which makes Dolin Blanc and Noilly Prat tend to be dryer with more floral aromas, and lack the vanilla flavor Torino style vermouths have.
And then came us; the Americans, with our crazy ideas and untraditional methods, bastardizing the status quo as only we can do. Over the last 20 years, Americans have been making more and more vermouth and many of these brands are worth checking out. Adam Ford, creator of Atsby Vermouth, based out of New York utilizes Chardonnay for their base wine, and instead of a neutral brandy, apple brandy, also from New York. Muscovado sugar and raw honey are used to sweeten the Vermouth and botanicals such as celery, shitake mushrooms (I SHITake you not) anise and nutmeg go into the mix.
If your preference is the west coast, I highly suggest Sutton Cellars out of California. Among the experiments he has laying around in his warehouse laboratory, Carl Sutton makes Brown Label Dry Vermouth. With a base of Sonoma County wine, a neutral brandy and 17 different botanicals including Orange Peel, Rosemary and chamomile, this vermouth is delicious as a classic aperitif or in my favorite, a Sutton & Soda with a twist of grapefruit. Dry and complex, it plays well in any cocktail as well.
So give yourself a chance and try and explore the vermouth section at your local craft store, or have a glass at your neighborhood cocktail bar. See what your palate favors, but please don’t stick your nose up at the genre altogether. You can grab amazing vermouth for fewer than 30 dollars in most places. And always remember; keep your vermouth in the refrigerator lest it become an unappealing oxidized, cooked sherry/madeira hybrid.
