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What in God’s Name is Vermouth?
“The proper union of gin and vermouth is a great and sudden glory; it is one of the happiest marriages on earth, and one of the shortest lived.”
- Bernard DeVoto, Harper’s Magazine
Stock Vermouth is available in-store at B-21 for $4.99/liter (both dry and sweet)
So what is vermouth? In short, it’s a fortified wine to which herbs and spices are added. Does that clear things up? Not likely, so let’s define it further. A fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled beverage, most often brandy, is added. The original reason for fortifying wines was to preserve them since ethanol is a natural antiseptic. Other fortified wines include port, sherry, and marsala.
The word vermouth is an adaptation of the German Wermut or Wermuth, which translates to wormwood, an herb used in the distillation of absinthe. Wormwood was added to libations during the time of Pythagorus to ward off intestinal worms. Vermouth was ultimately named so by Antonio Benedetto Carpano of Turin, Italy; Carpano is also credited with the propagation of sweet vermouth in the late 18th century. With that in mind, many refer to Italian vermouth as sweet and/or rosso. Joseph Noilly bears responsibility for the creation of the dry or French style of vermouth in 1813.
Vermouth may be used in place of wine when cooking and is preferred by many due to its stability, in that its quality does not diminish as quickly as that of wine. In cocktails, vermouth acts as a moderating agent to decrease the alcohol percentage and lend mild herbal notes, altering a drink’s character without moving the flavor t0o far in one direction or another as do juices and other mixers. Vermouth experienced heavy usage in the late 19th century, when, in contrast with today’s ratios, fledgling martinis and Manhattans contained twice as much vermouth as they did gin or whiskey. The current trend shies from such generous pours. Historian David Wondrich suggests that “bartenders are taught to treat it like toxic waste.” This cocktail paradigm shift occurred in the 20th century by figures such as Winston Churchill, who purportedly bowed in the direction of France while making martinis. I tended bar many moons ago and a dry martini is widely understood to contain no vermouth at all.
Now you might be curious… where would I find vermouth at B-21? It’s on the south end of the scotch aisle… for now.
~Shawn Reynolds, B21 California Correspondent
1 Comment to What in God’s Name is Vermouth?
The vermouth has been moved. It is now on the north wall where the ice wines used to be. Game on.
February 5, 2010