Build a Bar Workshop: Vermouth

Carpano Antica

Vermouth is another home bar staple item that needs an in-depth look. The current cocktail culture would be lost without this vital ingredient. Typically, Vermouth is a wine that has been infused with botanicals that add flavor and color. Vermouth is also usually fortified, which means the alcohol percentage of the wine has been raised through the addition of spirits (a fairly neutral grape brandy is ideal in most cases). Vermouth originated in Northwest Italy/Southeast France, where the local wine could be enhanced by the local botanicals.

Vermouth imported from Italy became wildly popular beginning in the 1870's, and ever since, this "Italian" vermouth has been strongly associated with the Manhattan cocktail. By contrast, Europeans commonly sip this aperitif neat or over a little ice. The dry style, emerging first in France, achieved similar popularity in the US almost concurrently, eventually becoming strongly associated with the Martini. The Italian style red is typically on the sweeter side. Note that the color usually comes from the botanicals, as red wine isn't always suitable for vermouth. There is also a Bianco style, more refined than the dry.

As with other wines, vermouth will oxidize upon opening. A vermouth may take on different flavor characteristics in as little as 15-20 minutes after opening!

While open bottles tend to gradually lose their more refined qualities over time, they have just enough alcohol in them that they tend to take weeks to go completely bad. Open vermouth bottles can keep reasonably well if they are tightly capped, in the refrigerator (or a cool place), and away from light. The wine may not be quite as good down the road as when first opened, but it will still be usable (especially for cooking).

Sweet vermouth can be nice with rich, stewed lentils or a decadent grilled peach. Dry vermouth plays well with citrus salmon or a steaming bowl of French onion soup. You can substitute it anywhere you might use wine, but remember: it will have a much stronger flavor.

At Joe Canal's, we carry around 10 different brands of Vermouth, in the dry and sweet styles, including Cinzano, Gallo, Noilly-Pratt and Martini & Rossi.

The Classic Dry Martini Cocktail

Around 1912, Martini di Arma di Taggia, the famous head bartender at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York, declared that Noilly Prat Original Dry was an essential ingredient of his "martini cocktail", one of the very earliest examples of the classic dry martini.

There is no wrong or right way to drink a dry martini cocktail; use premium gin or vodka, an olive or a twist, stirred or shaken, 1-2 or 2-1 or 3-2. The best classic dry martini recipe is the one that you like the most.

1 part Noilly Prat Original Dry
2 parts Grey Goose vodka or Bombay Sapphire gin
Dash of orange bitters
One Olive or twist of lemon

Place all the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice
Stir well for 20 seconds
Single strain into a classic cocktail glass

The Manhattan

Have a mixing glass at the ready.

Add a single measures of MARTINI & ROSSI® Rosso and drops of Angostura Bitters.

Consider your whiskey. Variety is the spice of life, remember. Try Maker's Mark or Buffalo Trace. Add two parts to the mixing glass.

Add a fistful of ice and stir.

Strain into the drinking glass, spray the surface with the oils of an orange twist and add a cherry.

You can get dozens of different cocktail recipes, both classic and contemporary, at the websites for the products mentioned in this post.