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A type of aperitif, vermouths are essentially aromatized, fortified wines (I’ll explain that a bit more in a minute). The word vermouth is derived from the German word for wormwood (the unjustly infamous ingredient in absinthe), “wermut,”which was one of the botanicals commonly added to vermouths. Wikipedia says that fortified wines with wormwood as the principal ingredient were being produced in Germany dating back to the 16th century, and while I don’t particularly trust Wikipedia when it comes to spirits*, that seems to make sense with the etymology of “vermouth.”

Vermouth producers basically take a wine, blend it with mistelle (sweetened grape juice or brandy), and steep a bunch of weird herbs and other botanicals (think gin) in the mix for a couple of weeks. Then they strain the herbs and junk, emulsify the now-aromatized brandy and wine together, pasteurize it, and let it sit in the fridge for another couple of weeks. The refrigeration allows impurities to crystallize and then be filtered out. NB: Keep your vermouths refrigerated at home – they have a relatively low alcohol content and it’ll keep their flavor longer.

 Originally, what we know as vermouth today was sweet vermouth (like in a Manhattan). It’s also called Italian vermouth, since it was a style produced in Italy. In 1800, Joseph Noilly introduced the “dry” style inFrance, which, for obvious reasons, we can also call “French” vermouth. They use different botanical blends (although these are proprietary to each brand), and further, sweet vermouth has a much higher sugar content and is usually dark reddish in color. There are also blush vermouths (I like Martini & Rossi’s Rosato vermouth in a vodka martini).

I could drone on about all the boring production and historical aspects of vermouth, but instead let’s get to the good stuff: drinking it. We talked a little about sweet vermouth in our Manhattan discussion, so let’s concentrate on dry vermouth now. As I’m sure you’re aware, dry vermouth is most commonly found in a Dry Martini. This cocktail was popularized around the beginning of the 20th century, as dry vermouth started showing up in American bars**.  The Martini likely evolved from aMartinez(which, by the way, is FREAKING DELICIOUS. I’ll save that recipe for when I talk about Old Tom Gin/Genever), but in its modern form it’s just gin (or vodka, more recently) and dry vermouth.

Now, one very important point to understand, unless you like looking like an idiot: A MARTINI IS THE NAME OF A SPECIFIC COCKTAIL. A martini consists of some proportion of gin (or vodka) stirred with vermouth and garnished with an olive (or citrus peel, or an onion, except with an onion it becomes The Gibson). Therefore, if you want liquor and no vermouth, you are not ordering a martini. You are ordering chilled liquor, served in a martini glass. Say it with me: “I’ll have Gray Goose, up, with a [twist, olive, etc.].” In the same vein, appletinis and such aren’t martinis, they’re just served in martini glasses.

If you like your martini with just a little vermouth, order it “dry.” This, of course, is illogical, because more vermouth makes the martini taste dryer, but when it comes to alcohol, a lot of drunks tend to drunkenly name things wrong, so just go with it.

BASIC DRY MARTINI

A good default recipe.