Vermouth

Vermouth is a fortified wine, available in various red and white varieties (made from the respective type of wine). You will also find sweet and dry vermouths, amber vermouth, and rosé vermouth on the market. Vermouth is fortified with a neutral spirit and then flavored with various botanicals, herbs, and spices, notably the wormwood plant which is also used in absinthe. Some brands add the ingredients to the spirt and redistill it before adding the wine, others add the ingredients to the wine first, and othersstill add them to the blended wine and spirit. Some sugar or other sweetener is typically the final addition. The drink originated in Turin in the second half of the 18th century and this part of northern Italy is still its stronghold. The second-biggest consumer of vermouth is France, but it is also made and enjoyed elsewhere including the U.S. and UK. In Italy and Spain, vermouth is commonly drunk as an aperitif, although the rest of the world knows it primarily as an ingredient in classic cocktails such as the Negroni, Martini, Vesper, and Manhattan.

Top Vermouth Posts:

How Long Does Vermouth Last?
Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth
Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth – New Recipe 2009

Review: Dubonnet Rouge (2008)

By Christopher Null | September 7, 2008 |

Sure, I’m familiar with Dubonnet. You see it on every bar shelf, without question. It’s almost always full and it’s sitting next to the equally dusty bottle of Punt e Mes and the half-empty bottle of Galliano. Old school, but obviously a requirement for the bar. Anything that’s been around this long deserves a spot…

Review: Lillet Rouge

By Christopher Null | July 12, 2008 |

The charms of Lillet Blanc have been adequately covered in this blog. But there’s another Lillet — Lillet Rouge — which is considerably harder to find even though it’s been on the market since 1962. There’s not a lot of mystery to what Lillet Rouge is: As the name implies, it’s pretty much the same…

Classic Recipe: The Vesper

By Christopher Null | July 1, 2008 |

In 1953, Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale, and had James Bond invent his own drink, which he called the Vesper, after a character in the book. The drink made a new appearance in the previous Bond movie of the same name, with Daniel Craig rapid-firing the recipe to a waiter so quickly I’m amazed he…

Review: Lillet Blanc

By Christopher Null | June 30, 2008 |

Yes, even I have to fight the urge not to say it as “lillette” (hard T) instead of leelay, as it is in proper French. Lillet is an aromatic wine from the Bordeaux region in France; though not always marketed as such, Lillet is essentially a vermouth and can be substituted for dry vermouth in…