Herb your enthusiasm

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TASTING&MATCHING NEW VERMOUTH

HERB YOUR

ENTHUSIASM There’s just no stopping the tidal wave of vermouth of the last few years. Clinton Cawood joins an enthusiastic panel of bartenders as they take a look at some of the latest offerings to hit our shores

HOW IT WORKS

New vermouths that became available in the UK in roughly the past two years were eligible for this tasting. To keep numbers somewhat manageable, each brand was only able to submit two products, preferably a sweet and a dry style, as these are more commonly used in cocktails. These were evaluated blind, with tasters aware of each vermouth’s price. Each was scored out of 20, taking value for money into account. Scores were then collated to obtain a percentage score. All prices listed are RRPs.

PANEL Robbie Acres, Portside Parlour Bliss Boyd-Lambley, Mothership Group Clinton Cawood, Imbibe Tara Garnell, Original Sin Gus Gluck, Vinoteca Joseph LewisWhite, American Bar at The Savoy Roberta Mariani, Bar Termini Edoardo Mori, Mele e Pere Chris Tanner, Portside Parlour Robyn Wilkie, MASH London

RESULTS DRY, EXTRA DRY, BIANCO 75 Belsazar Dry, Germany From a panel with particularly divergent tastes, Belsazar’s dry vermouth was able to achieve near-unanimous praise. Stonefruit was by far the dominant note on the nose, with apricot and peach joined by more tropical barbecued pineapple, as well as caramel and marzipan. The palate was fascinating and complex, with Christmas cake, canned peach syrup, grapefruit zest and apricot kernel, plus a dry, coffee-like note on the finish, not to mention a gentian-like bitterness. One taster said that this was like ‘starting out at the shallow end of a swimming pool, and moving to the deep end – progressively better and more complex’. Another suggested that this be paired with Plymouth Gin in a wet Martini. Which would no doubt be excellent after a quick dip in the swimming pool… £30/75cl, Axiom Brands, 020 3774 6845

74 Regal Rogue Daring Dry, Australia Hailing from Down Under, Regal Rogue offered something different in this flight, and something that appealed to our panellists. Herbs were the name of the game, with oregano, thyme, dill and sage upfront, joined by anise, eucalyptus and frankincense, as well as some quince. One taster was getting ‘caramelised vegetables’ too. The palate was accurately described by one taster as having ‘soave notes’. This had it all, from rich fig-like fruitiness to good acidity, with a cleansing bitterness to finish. In addition, tasters thought this had what it took to stand up to big cocktails, with one suggesting it be used in a Perfect Manhattan. £18.99/50cl (equivalent to £28.49/75cl), Identity Drinks Brands, 07890 277 024 72 Riserva Carlo Alberto Extra Dry, Italy A decidedly savoury entrant here, with tarragon and other herbal aromas, as well as ‘iron oxide’ and olive brine.

PHOTO: STEVE RYAN

T

wo years ago the floodgates opened on what was, in retrospect, something of a sleepy category. Where once you had only to choose from a few major vermouths, with a couple of unusual options if you were being fancy, today there’s a massive number to go at – and the new launches aren’t showing any sign of slowing down. How do you keep afloat in this ocean of aromatised wine, figure out which ones are best for what purpose, and steer clear of those products whose price tags outweigh the quality of what’s in the bottle? We wanted to know too, so we called in a selection of vermouths new to the UK in the last couple of years, and pitted them against each other in a blind tasting. Our panel found day-to-day workhorse vermouths for cocktails, some that were better suited to being sipped on their own, and more than a few curiosities along the way. What they really found, though, was a category that deserves way more attention than it gets – although we wouldn’t mind if the new launches slowed down for just a little while, if that’s OK…

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10/23/2015 5:31:13 PM


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