World Vermouth Day is taking place this coming Monday, March 21, celebrating one of the most widely-used, yet underrated, spirits in the world.
Renowned bartender and vermouth producer, Giancarlo Mancino, has the vision to change this, and has founded the world’s first Vermouth Day to celebrate the category of fortified wine.
“On Vermouth Day, we want to celebrate Vermouth in all its forms without barriers – vermouths from every country, colour and flavour, each with its own production method,” says Mancino, also founder and producer of Mancino Vermouth.
“There’s no Martini cocktail without vermouth. There’s no Negroni without vermouth. And of course, there’s no Vermuttino without Vermouth.”
Mancino says Vermouth Day is a time to celebrate the beverage that has held its own in the last 20 years of the cocktail renaissance and remained one of the key components for all backbars.
More recently, the category has surged following the low-ABV drinking trend with consumers, and bartenders experimenting with their no-to-low cocktail offerings.
What is vermouth?
Vermouth is an aromatised wine. It uses wine grapes as the base ingredient, infused with dried, aromatic botanicals to result in a flavourful drink.
What makes the aromatised wine called Vermouth, though, is wormwood. This key ingredient is the botanical from which vermouth has its name – as wormwood in German, is translated to ‘wermut’.
How can you celebrate Vermouth Day?
Showcase vermouth in your cocktail lists – a Reverse-Martini or Reverse-Manhattan – it’s exactly what you think it is: reverse the volumes of vermouth:spirit.
Try it in a Highball, or simply, served chilled by itself as an aperitif.
“More than ever, there is a need for union, just as the spices are combined into a bottle of Vermouth,” says Mancini.
“Here is the Vermouth Day, a way to celebrate one of the greatest cocktail ingredients of all the time.
“A whole day in which we can all strengthen our community by raising up a glass of Negroni, a Martini Cocktail or a Highball. Reminding us that a ‘cheers’ is more powerful than anything else.”
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