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A delicate balance of rich, spicy, sweet, and bitter flavors makes sweet vermouth essential to many classic co*cktails.
By
Marcia Simmons
Marcia Simmons
Contributor
Marcia Simmons is the author of DIY co*cktails: A Simple Guide to Creating Your Own Signature Drinks (2010).
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Updated December 02, 2022
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In This Recipe
What's Available to Buy?
Why DIY?
How to Use It
Why It Works
- The process is uncomplicated and provides ample opportunity to customize a blend of flavors that better suits your taste than the store-bought kind.
- Besides wormwood, which can be ordered online, the rest of the components are common grocery store items.
- The recipe can be made with an inexpensive, simple dry white wine that is not heavily oaked, like pinot grigio.
Sweet vermouth plays a supporting role in so many co*cktails that it's easy to take it for granted. It brings out the nuanced flavors of a bold spirit, so it pairs well with both whiskey and gin, supporting the star player in a wide variety of co*cktails. But a simple glass of sweet vermouth has a delicate balance of rich, spicy, sweet, and bitter flavors that can also be delicious on its own.
What's Available to Buy?
The biggest names in vermouth have been around for centuries. Cinzano, Noilly Prat, and Martini & Rossi are all affordable and easy to find. These standbys blend well with other flavors in a co*cktail but don't have the zing of a great sipping vermouth.
Dolin, one of our favorite French vermouth companies, makes a lovely (slightly lighter) version that is nice for drinking on ice (with a twist of orange—think of it as a simplified red sangria.) Carpano Antica and Punt e Mes offer fuller flavor with a bitter edge and more pronounced botanicals. They're fantastic straight-up, on the rocks, or mixed in co*cktails, but they run $20 to $30 a bottle, and don't keep forever. Vya is a relative newcomer to the vermouth scene, but it's already popping up on lots of upscale co*cktail lists because of its intense herbal flavor. Any of these can be found in better liquor stores—but probably not every corner booze shop.
Why DIY?
Vermouth is a fortified aromatized wine, which is a fancy way of saying thatyou make it by adding hard liquor and herbs to wine. The process isn't complicated, and finding the right mix of botanicals is a fun project. With a little experimentation, you can design a sweet vermouth that pairs perfectly with your favorite spirit or suits your taste better than the store-bought kind.
The signature bitter bite in vermouth comes from wormwood, which is also the key ingredient in absinthe. But other than that, the rest of the components are common grocery store items.
The base is a dry white wine—since it gets boiled and flavored, cheap wine will do. I went for a spiced flavor profile in honor of the holidays, accented by a little sherry. However, everything from apples to wood chips can add a unique touch to your vermouth. You can try other herbs like rosemary or sage or sweeten the mixture up a bit more if you like.
Use It!
There's no need to get complicated: drop an olive or slice of citrus into a glass of chilled vermouth for a satisfying pre-dinner drink. But of course, there are dozens of classics co*cktails to mix with your DIY sweet vermouth.
For the co*cktail lover on your Christmas list, pair a bottle of your homemade vermouth with a nice whiskey and someco*cktail cherriesas a DIYManhattankit or with gin and Campari for a DIYNegronikit.
Branch out a little, and try theFrench Kissor theMartinez, theDerby, or theMaddow.
You can even cook with your vermouth—it comes in handy for deglazing a pan.
December 2011
Recipe Details
DIY Sweet Vermouth Recipe
Prep5 mins
Cook25 mins
Active30 mins
Total30 mins
Serves25 servings
Makes750 ml
Ingredients
1 orange
3 1/4 cups white wine, divided
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon dried chamomile
8 cardamom pods
1 star anise
1 teaspoon dried lavender
1/4 teaspoon wormwood leaf
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup boilingwater
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup sweet or India sherry
Directions
Zest orange and set aside the rest of the orange for another use.
Pour 1 cup of wine into a pot and set the rest aside. Add all orange zest, cinnamon stick, chamomile, cardamom, star anise, lavender, and wormwood, and cook on medium heat until it comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Strain out solids and return liquid to pot.
In a separate pot, pour in sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, to caramelize it. Once sugar melts into a caramel-colored liquid, in about 5 minutes, turn off heat and let caramelized sugar cool.
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan or tea kettle, then measure 1/4 cup and slowly pour it into caramelized sugar, stirring as you pour. Be careful!
Add remaining wine (2 1/4 cups) to the herb-infused wine. Bring it to a boil, then pour it slowly into the pot of caramelized sugar syrup, stirring frequently to integrate them. Add brandy and sherry, then let cool. Pour cooled mixture into a bottle, seal and store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Wormwood leaf is a bitter herb that can be a bit difficult to find. Contrary to rumor, a little wormwood in your co*cktail will not cause hallucinations. Lhasa Karnak sells it online and at their Berkeley stores.
Use caution when you caramelize sugar, as it becomes scalding hot. If you pour a cool liquid on hot caramelized sugar, it will harden like candy.
Vermouth should be stored in the refrigerator and is best if used within a month. Though it will take longer than that for it to "go bad," like wine it will taste flat and develop off flavors if kept too long.
Special Equipment
Zester or peeler
| Nutrition Facts (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 44 | Calories |
| 0g | Fat |
| 3g | Carbs |
| 0g | Protein |
Show Full Nutrition Label
×
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 25 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 44 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 0% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 31mg | 1% |
| Total Carbohydrate 3g | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 0g | 0% |
| Total Sugars 2g | |
| Protein 0g | |
| Vitamin C 0mg | 2% |
| Calcium 5mg | 0% |
| Iron 0mg | 1% |
| Potassium 27mg | 1% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
