Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/23459
Visit Cask in San Francisco, the self-proclaimed “artisanal beverage purveyors” owned by the same folks as hot speakeasy Bourbon & Branch, and you’ll have 15 vermouths to choose from. Far from the vermouth used simply to rinse the glass before making certain cocktails, these versions are com- plex and intriguing enough to sip as a pre-dinner appetite stimulant. What is Vermouth? Vermouth is an aromatized, or infused, wine. It’s made by combining still wine with a variety of herbs and spices. The name originates from Wermut or Wermuth, the German word for worm- wood, which was an original and typical ingredient in early vermouth recipes. The product’s origin, as sweet vermouth, harks back to Antonio Carpano in 1786 Italy. “He was using his grandmother’s recipe for a wormwood infusion as a medicinal treatment for intestinal worms,” says Andrew Quady, President of Quady Winery, makers of Vya, one of the few American-made vermouths. “When people made wormwood infusions, they were so bitter they had to add spices, wine, and other ingredients” to make them palatable. While intestinal worms are all but extinct in developed countries, Carpano vermouth is still available today, and marketed as the original recipe by Infinium Spirits. At Cask, Carpano Antica Formula carries their healthiest price tag for vermouth at $30, hardly glass-rinsing material. Quady has been making two vermouths in California under the Vya label for ten years and is an avid promoter of the benefits of vermouth as a stand-alone sipper. Sweet, sometimes called “Italian,” vermouth came first from Italy, while dry vermouth originated in France almost 50 years later. Never intended for medical use, dry, or “French,” vermouth was merely an apertif. Noilly Prat, the original French vermouth, remains popular today, imported by Bacardi USA. Sweet and Dry While the “three essentials of vermouth are wine, spice and herbs” says Martini’s Gallo, the elements used in each type of vermouth are quite different. According to Quady, “Flowers and leaves are the aromatics in dry vermouth,” while “sweet roots, bark, seeds, and stems” are used for the sweet. The combination of wine, aromatics and, in some cases, a fortifying spirit or distillate, creates a unique blend of bitter and sweet. Dry vermouth is unsweetened and distinctly bitter, but sweet versions actually contain more bitter compounds. The strength of the aromatics determines the concentration of herbal notes, with the heartier components used in the sweet vermouth requiring an addition of sugar to offset the bitterness, creat- ing the “sweet and sour” note that herbal aperitifs deliver with such appetizing stimulation. “If you made sweet vermouth without sugar, you couldn’t drink it,” says Quady. “Chocolate’s kind of that way too.” Whether dry vermouths are called “extra dry,” “bianco” or” white,” they are made with white wines, while sweet, or red, vermouth, is made from red wine. A few producers also create rosé versions, including new Martini Rosato from Bacardi USA. Commercial vermouths, primarily targeted at mixing, are often lightly fortified or reverse distilled, which cre- ates an extended shelf life. Artisan dry vermouths tend to endure less process- ing and denuding and have a shorter shelf life after opening; being primarily white wine, they will eventually oxidize, although at a slower rate than wine, and should be refrigerated after opening. Turin is the Italian epi- center of vermouth, with Carpano and Martini as well as popular Cinzano (imported by Palm Bay International) headquar- tered there. Martini is the largest vermouth pro- ducer in the world and offers four vermouths in the U.S. and even more in Italy. French vermouth is concentrated in the south, and California has entered the game with both Vya and Sutton Cellars produc- ing vermouths there. Turning to Vermouth While Americans haven’t discovered vermouth’s charms in any significant numbers, there are reasons to believe this may change. Related product Lillet, an aromatized wine of French origin imported by William Grant & Sons, has gained increasing attention, and while Vya’s sales stayed steady at about 1,000 cases a year for the first six years, they have doubled in the last four years. The evidence suggests an increasing openness to herbal-noted wine infusions, not to mention vermouth’s use in creating complexity in cocktails beyond the Manhattan and the Martini. Add to that the growing trend toward antique ingredients and rediscovered recipes in craft bars, and there’s reason to believe in a future uptick in free-standing vermouth sales. january–february 201 1 / the tasting panel / 91 The Italian Martini. Vermouth can be a lovely sip in its own right, as in this Martini Bianco on ice. PHOTO: EDDIE JANSSENS