Skip to main content

4 incredible vermouth cocktails you’re missing out on

Vermouth cocktails to try at home

Cocktail
Timothé Durand/Unsplash

We often talk about the main spirit being the most important aspect of a cocktail. This means that while bourbon, dark rum, tequila, or gin gets all the press, the other ingredients get the Rodney Dangerfield treatment. And while bitters are referred to as the “salt and pepper” of the cocktail world, we believe that (depending on the cocktail) vermouth might be just as important.

What’s a Martini without vermouth? Well, it’s pretty much just a boozy glass of gin (or vodka if you’re into that sort of thing). It’s not a Boulevardier without the vermouth; you might as well just make an Old Fashioned instead if your Manhattan is sans vermouth.

Bartender
Michael Odelberth/Unsplash

What is vermouth?

We’ve all seen vermouth listed as an ingredient in our favorite cocktails. We might even have a bottle at home. We also might not even know what it is. Well, for those unaware, vermouth is not a spirit. This important ingredient in many classic and contemporary cocktails is a fortified wine. It’s not just boozy grape juice, though. It’s infused with various herbs, botanicals, roots, and other ingredients to give it its timeless flavor. Sometimes, it’s sweetened as well.

Vermouth
Giorgio Trovato/Unsplash

The different vermouths

Not all vermouth is the same. There are a handful of different types of vermouth, each with a specific flavor profile suited for certain drinks. Dry vermouth, while allowed to have as much as 50 grams of sugar per liter, is usually produced with very little sugar, if any. It has more of an herbal quality than other vermouths.

Recommended Videos

Popular among bartenders, Blanc vermouth is known for its semi-sweet, almost vanilla or honey-like flavor. If Blanc vermouth is in the middle of the spectrum, Sweet vermouth is on a completely different side. Known for its red color, it’s sweet, sugary, and fruity; It’s the vermouth you’ll find in a Manhattan or Negroni.

Martini
Ambitious Studio* - Rick Barrett / Unsplash

Vermouth in cocktails

When it comes to cocktailing, having a bottle or two of vermouth on hand is a necessity. Simply put, you can’t make a handful of classic cocktails without it. It pairs perfectly with a variety of ingredients to create an explosion of flavor. The Negroni, with its bittersweet Campari, needs the sugary sweetness of sweet red vermouth to balance everything out. The same goes for countless other drinks.

Negroni
Thomas Franke / Unsplash

4 incredible vermouth cocktails

Now that you have learned a little bit about what vermouth is and why it’s one of the most important tools a bartender can wield, it’s time to actually drink some cocktails featuring this memorable fortified wine. Keep scrolling to find 4 incredible vermouth-centric cocktails that you should immediately add to your repertoire.

Manhattan
OurWhisky Foundation / Unsplash

Hanky Panky

The Hanky Panky might not have the name recognition of some classic cocktails, but it’s been around for over 100 years. The drink, an Italian bitter liqueur take on the Martinez, consists of gin, Fernet-Branca, and sweet vermouth. There’s no mystery about this drink’s genesis. It was created by Ada “Coley” Coleman, the head bartender at the Savoy Hotel in London in 1903. This drink is semi-sweet and highly flavorful thanks to the aforementioned sweet vermouth, gin and Fernet.

Mezcal Negroni
Marvin Meyer / Unsplash

Americano

This isn’t your favorite cup of black coffee. No, this cocktail is as simple as it gets. It’s literally just Campari, vermouth, and soda water (a slice of lemon adds flavor as well). That’s it. It’s like you were going to make a Negroni and then realized you didn’t have any gin on hand and made it anyway. The popular Italian cocktail was invented sometime in the 1860s at Milan’s Caffè Campari by bartender and owner Gaspare Campari. It’s simple, elegant, and highly flavorful.

Negroni
Allan Francis / Unsplash

Negroni

A relative of the Americano, the Negroni is simply an Americano with the addition of gin—sweet vermouth and Campari round out the semi-sweet, highly memorable flavor profile. As legend goes, this drink originated in 1919 when a man named Count Camillo Negroni (yes, really) ordered an Americano at Florance, Italy’s Caffè Casoni, and asked for gin to be added to the recipe instead of soda water.

Old Pal
Melissa Zikos/Unsplash

Old Pal

While it’s clear that gin plays nice with vermouth, many timeless cocktails let you in on that fact. You might be surprised to learn that so does rye whiskey. A great example is the Old Pal, which is made with equal parts rye whiskey vermouth and Campari; this drink is very similar to the classic Boulevardier. Harry MacElhone created it at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the 1930s.

Bottles
Edgar Chaparro/Unsplash

Picking the right vermouth for you

Don’t just buy the first bottle of vermouth you see. Understand whether you need dry, sweet, or blanc vermouth for your recipe, and then buy a bottle accordingly. Don’t go cheap on it, either. Vermouth is an important flavor component of many cocktails. You wouldn’t want to ruin your drink with cheap vermouth.

Topics
Christopher Osburn
Christopher Osburn is a food and drinks writer located in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. He's been writing professional
4 simple gin cocktails anyone can make (that taste delicious)
Everyone can make these gin-based cocktails, and that includes you
Gin cocktail

One of the greatest and most versatile spirits in any good home bar is gin, which allows you to make a selection of delicious classic gin cocktails. Some of these recipes can get a bit complex though, but if you're just starting out, you might want a more simple gin cocktails that still taste great.

At its most basic, gin is a neutral distilled spirit (made from barley, wheat, corn, or other grains or ingredients). When it’s first produced, it closely resembles vodka. But while vodka is distilled and filtered to have as little flavor as possible, gin takes a completely different route.

Read more
4 fantastic genever cocktail recipes to get you acquainted with the spirit
Learn how to use gin's elder cousin, genever
Captain Barnacles, Stay Gold

If you're ever learning about the history of gin, one spirit you'll often see referenced is genever. If you've never tried this drink or even heard of it, then you're not alone, as it is rarely seen outside its homeland of the Netherlands. However, it's worth getting to know genever if you're interested in historical spirits or even if you're just interested in trying something new.

Genever’s bold, earthy taste is great for fans of more robust spirits, but if you’re new to it, cocktails are a great way to get to know it better. Here, four bartenders mix up delicious drinks made with genever. Try them at home, and you’ll likely find a favorite new bottle for your bar.
If Bond Were a Dutchman

Read more
How to use Pimm’s for a refreshing cocktail
Curious about using Pimm's beyond the Pimm's Cup? We've got a few fine ideas
The Champagne Safari cocktail from Hot Tin.

A home bar ingredient that's ubiquitous in Britain but less well known abroad is Pimm's. This delicious fruit and gin-based drink is the basis of the iconic Pimm's Cup cocktail and deserves to be better known for its refreshing, bright flavors and its ease of use.

While it's most typically mixed with lemonade and fresh fruit to create a fruit salad-like drink that's perfect for summer, it has other uses in cocktails as well. Here are a few of our favorite Pimm's cocktail recipes.
Copper Canvas

Read more