Please Don't Splash the Vermouth

A mini-guide to the fortified wine Vermouth, with or without alcohol

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

"Vermouth always makes me brilliant unless it makes me idiotic, but we'll hope for the best." – E.F. Benson, Paying Guests (1929)

Vermouth has long been the brunt of jokes—often dismissed as the forgotten bottle gathering dust on a bar cart or the thing you wave over a Martini rather than actually pour in. Winston Churchill supposedly preferred his Martini so dry that he merely glanced at the vermouth bottle across the room. Ernest Hemingway preferred his Martini at a 15:1 ratio—fifteen parts gin to one part vermouth—mirroring the odds that Field Marshal Montgomery favored in battle.

In both cases, Churchill and Hemingway were favoring the higher alcohol component of their Martinis, reflecting their priorities when it comes to drinking (Read: more alcohol).

However, vermouth is so much more than a punchline. This aromatized, botanical-laden wine is the unsung hero of cocktails, adding depth and balance. Whether it's the silky sweetness of a Manhattan, the crisp backbone of a Martini, or even a simple spritz with soda, vermouth can transform simple cocktails to something extraordinary.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to use vermouth—both classic and alcohol-free—to craft cocktails that highlight its true value.

A Brief History of Vermouth

Vermouth has come a long way since its origins as a medicinal elixir, becoming a cornerstone of cocktail culture. Its journey spans centuries, empires, and drinking traditions—always evolving, always underestimated, yet always essential.

The Medicinal Origins

Like many great alcoholic beverages, vermouth began as a health tonic. The word vermouth comes from the German wermut, meaning wormwood—one of its key bittering ingredients, historically believed to aid digestion and even ward off disease. This is what we might now refer to as “functional properties.”

What is Wormwood?
Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is a bitter herb that has been used for centuries in medicine and spirits. It’s best known for its presence in absinthe, but is also a defining ingredient of vermouth. In addition to its supposed digestive benefits and other medicinal proprieties, wormwood contributes a distinct earthy bitterness.

Photo by Олег Мороз on Unsplash

Antonio Benedetto Carpano of Turin, Italy, is credited with creating the first modern vermouth in 1786. As a young botanist, he infused 30 different botanicals into his vino d’assenzio, balancing bitterness with sweetness to craft the rich, red Italian vermouth we know today. He chose the German name wermut (or vermuth) rather than the local vino d’assenzio, likely influenced by both the linguistic diversity of the area and his admiration for Enlightenment thinkers like Immanuel Kant and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Goethe invokes the image of wormwood in his writing, such as in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, where a playful, flirtatious game reveals how bitter a kiss can taste when rendered meaningless:

"Surprisingly!" exclaimed Laertes: "it seems as if nothing else had ever such a tang of wormwood in it."

"As little wormwood," she replied, "as any gift that a man may enjoy without envy and without conceit.

Carpano’s vermouth became a staple of Turin’s café culture, enjoyed on its own as an aperitif. However, it would not remain without its rivals.