Vermouth is having a revival and getting the respect it deserves. In this episode we speak with Kara Newman, Wine Enthusiast's spirits editor. Find out why it belongs as a featured ingredient in your home bar, the diversity of styles and flavors available, and tips on mixing it up.

Vermouths Discussed: 

@3:00 Routin Dry Vermouth 
@7:30 Lustau Vermut Blanco 
@15:12 Imbue Sweet Vermouth 

Transcript

Jameson Fink: Welcome to Wine Enthusiast's What We're Tasting Podcast. I'm your host, Jameson Fink. Join me as we discuss three fantastic wines and why each one belongs in your glass.

This episode I'm talking about vermouth with contributing editor, Kara Newman. Kara covers spirits for Wine Enthusiast. What We're Tasting is sponsored by Vivino. With the largest online inventory, Vivino finds the right wine every time, and it's also got vermouth, which is a wine too.

Download Vivino to discover and buy your favorites, and stock up at Vivino.com/wineenthusiast.

So, I was recently at a bar, not surprising, and I was thinking about vermouth because the person I was with ordered a martini, and the bartender made a big show of pouring a cap full of vermouth, and putting the cap full of vermouth into the glass, swirling it, and then dumping it out, and just said, "This is the most important step in making a martini." So, I wanted to talk to you, Kara, and welcome to the show, about vermouth because I feel like it's still even in this day in age, it's underappreciated, and people aren't enjoying it as much as they should. They're just dumping it out, and that was a criminal, that was a traumatizing moment.

So actually what I want to ask you, Kara, is how do you like vermouth in your martini? What's your play there?

Kara Newman: Well, my go-to is actually a 50/50, so that means equal parts gin and vermouth, and that's actually a lot of vermouth. That's a pretty wet martini. Although, I just like to have it in the martini at all. It's funny that happened to you. The same thing happened to me in Rome. I was appalled to order a martini, and they poured in the dry vermouth and made a big show of shaking it, and then pouring it all out. I was like, "Oh my god, what are you doing? Are you crazy?"

Jameson Fink: It's such a waste. I do like the 50 ... another great thing about a equal parts 50/50 martini too is that you can have a lot more of them, and that's another thing that's nice about vermouth as more of a starring role. And then you've got sort of like the ultimate expression of that, which would be the reverse martini, which would be-

Kara Newman: Right, that was Julia Child's play.

Jameson Fink: Oh really?

Kara Newman: Yeah, I think she was the first person I ever heard of doing a reverse martini, yeah where lots more vermouth and just a splash of gin. Very civilized.

Jameson Fink: Yeah, and that's a good drink to have while you're in the kitchen cooking too.

Kara Newman: You know it. She would know it.

Jameson Fink: She would know it, she would know it.

Kara Newman: If Julia says-

Jameson Fink: Yeah. And also the thing with vermouth is that we're seeing kind of an explosion of small batch crafted type of vermouth's from all over the country and all over the world, and I think we have so many more available to us now, and also with different flavors and types.

So, the first wine I wanted to talk to you about, and vermouth is a wine, it's just fortified-

Kara Newman: Correct. Fortified, aromatized, correct.

Jameson Fink: Aromatized and fortified. God, that sounds so cool. It's a French vermouth. It's the Routin dry vermouth, 91 points, best buy, and what are people doing with vermouth in France? I mean, I don't even know what's the tradition of vermouth there? Are there certain ingredients that they use that's kind of like a signature? Or is it just kind of it's anything goes, whatever you want to use?

Kara Newman: Well, traditionally you only heard about French vermouth or Italian vermouth and there were no other vermouth's out there in the universe for years and years and years. And recently we've had more of an explosion where we've seen vermouth, as you said, from all over the world.

But the Routin, the one that you mentioned, that one's more of an alpine vermouth and it has more botanicals, more of those beautiful herbs and flowers, and they even have bitter almonds listed in their botanical list. They really have this beautiful alpine sensibility.

Jameson Fink: Now is it rare to ... I think like a lot of those things it would be like a closely guarded secret-

Kara Newman: Oh, you know it.

Jameson Fink: ... do you see, like obviously there's some things that they're not listing, but do you find more people are just like, "Hey, we're gonna let you know what some of the flavorings we use to make this vermouth."

Kara Newman: Every now and then you see ... You're absolutely right, it's definitely held close to the vest. I mean, sometimes I think it's because it's a secret, sometimes I think it's because they change it pretty frequently, and it might be based on what's available.

But I'm not sure that there's really a ... I'm trying to think if there's anyone who's really giving their full list of botanicals. Usually you just see a number if they talk about it at all.

Jameson Fink: Right, like the secrets herbs and spices.

Kara Newman: Exactly. Very KFC.

Jameson Fink: Yeah. And then this vermouth is a dry vermouth, and you mentioned in your review that it's martini material, so what is ... I mean, there's different kinds of vermouth, but so if I'm shopping, do I want to look for like, okay, I'm making martinis, I want a dry vermouth?

Kara Newman: Well, for martinis, I would usually go for a white vermouth as opposed to a red vermouth. I think dry vermouth is lovely in a martini and can be very crisp. It goes really well with gin. I'm also a fan of Blanc vermouth, which are a little more oxidized. They have a bit more of like a honey note, and there certainly are a growing number of Blancs and Blancos out there. But yeah, dry would probably be my go-to for that perfect classic martini profile.

Jameson Fink: And what about too, we've talked a little bit about oh vermouth, you mix it, you put it as ingredients in things, what about drinking vermouth solo, like just on the rocks with a twist? Is that something that's becoming more popular or do people still look at vermouth as like, oh vermouth is just, it's an ingredient, it doesn't stand on its own?

Kara Newman: I'm seeing a lot of vermouth and tonics.

Jameson Fink: Oh okay.

Kara Newman: Yeah, that's sort of a Spanish tradition, and every now and then I'll see a vermouth tonic. That's very refreshing. Vermouth, tonic, a nice curl of citrus peel. Oh, it can be so good. A little tapas on the side-

Jameson Fink: And then that's kind of too with this trend of ... which is great about vermouth, it's got so much flavor, but it doesn't pack the punch alcohol-wise that vodka or gin or something like that would too. Is that also maybe helping revitalize vermouth that people are trying to make these more kind of culinary cocktails or things that are ... you can have a few more of them rather than just one giant stiff martini that's 100% vodka?

Kara Newman: Well, we are definitely seeing a trend toward lower alcohol cocktails, what people call session cocktails. You can hang out and have them over a session. And vermouth forward cocktails are definitely a huge part of that. The Bamboo, the Adonis, those are two cocktails that are literally nothing but vermouth, like two different kinds of vermouth. Vermouth, sherry, all kinds of lower alcohol cocktails are definitely on the forefront right now.

Jameson Fink: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, no doubt. And then actually, this is great because we're not just talking about vermouth, we're drinking some vermouth, and the second wine I found really interesting because I know Lustau is a great sherry producer, and I was really excited to see that they now have a vermouth, at least it's new to me, and this is the Lustau Vermouth Blanco, 94 points, and it's a sherry-based vermouth made from fino and sweetened with Muscatel wine. It's really good. And is this more of that oxidized style that you were just talking about?

Kara Newman: Yeah, this one's definitely Blanco. This is actually two of my favorite trends of vermouth right now.

Jameson Fink: Uh-huh, in one bottle.

Kara Newman: In one bottle. Because I mean, I love the Blancos, and those I will drink straight up. Just a little ice is really all I need. But there's also a trend toward ... trendlet, toward more sherry-based vermouth's. There are I think three or four on the market right now, and this one, Lustau was actually the first one out to my knowledge ... and it's so good.

Jameson Fink: Yeah, it's really delicious. I mean, it's really ... I mean, you can smell sort of the beautiful grapes, but then it's got that kind of oxidized character too. I mean, it's really good. It's just good. I mean, we're just drinking this on its own and it's pretty damn good.

Kara Newman: No, it's nice. I mean, it's got that honey, it has floral characteristics. I mean, a bit of chamomile. It's just really pretty and drinkable.

Jameson Fink: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yes, it's pretty and drinkable, absolutely. So it seems like the dry vermouth is the classic