BB: Before Barcelona…..vermouth was a liquor cabinet staple, an essential ingredient for a Manhattan or the occasional Negroni, but I would never have thought to drink it on its own. That changed on our first trip to Barcelona, where we discovered vermouth culture, where locals and tourists “fer el vermut” or ” do the vermouth” as the perfect excuse for day drinking Sunday morning after church or as an aperitif. It is low in alcoholic content, big on taste, and quite inexpensive. Naturally that means that we had to learn how to make homemade vermouth!
Vermouth was probably first created in Turin, Italy in the late 18th century, where various botanicals were added to wine for their medicinal effects. The name comes from the German word for wormwood, which is the ingredient that creates its typical bitter taste. Today this aperitif is made by large producers as well as small, artisanal ones, but each has a proprietary blend of herbs, bark, roots and spices.
