Sweet vermouth (Orange Bloom)

According to Albert Stevens Crockett in The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, half the cocktails known prior to World War I ‘had vermouth as an essential [ingredient]’.

Since I like classic cocktails and we still only have one kind of vermouth, we’ll pair the dry with its older sister.

Originally meant for medicinal purposes, the precursor to the modern vermouths was produced by the Italian merchant D’Alessio in the early 16^th century. The recipe was based upon the German Wermut wines that were made on the other side of the border. Wermut is the German term for wormwood, the necessary ingredient in absinthe. It’s easy to see where the term ‘vermouth’ originated.

Around 1800 the proper sweet and dry variants begin to materialize. Another Italian merchant, Antonio Benedetto Carpano introduces the first sweet vermouth in Turin in 1786. Dry vermouth will follow some two decades later in France.

Sweet vermouth is originally red (rosso) and bittersweet. There is a bianco which is almost colourless, but it was introduced much later, around 1960. There’s really no reason to stock your bar with a bianco vermouth: red vermouth will always do as a sweet vermouth and is historically more correct.

One brand of sweet vermouth deserves special mention: Carpano Antica Formula (or Carpano Antica in short).

This vermouth radiates history. It comes in a hefty 1 litre bottle which has a unique number. If there’s some way for you to acquire this specific ingredient, I highly recommend it.

^*  ‘The Joy of Mixology’ by Gary Regan 

Orange Bloom

This cocktail is found in both The Savoy Cocktail Book and the Café Royal Cocktail Book. It shouldn’t be mistaken for an Orange Blossom, which is the gin equivalent of a Screwdriver.

I’ve tried tinkering with the ratios of this cocktail, but ended up using the original recipe. This cocktail seems quite straightforward, but is actually quite hard to do just right. The vermouth easily overtakes the Cointreau, but it really needs the sweet touch to make it work. It’s also quite susceptible to over-dilution. See if you can make this one work for you.
Ironically, the colour of this cocktail isn’t orange from the orange liqueur, but it’s orange from the red vermouth.

2 parts gin

1 part sweet vermouth

1 part Cointreau

glass:  cocktail

Stir with ice and strain into the glass.

Garnish with a cherry (if available).

Okay, I know: the bar doesn’t have cherries yet. But both books listed the same garnish specifically. And I was lucky to finally pick up some cocktail cherries, after looking for them for a long time. So it would be a waste not to use them.

It could still take quite a lot of time before we add cocktail cherries to the bar, so I’ll just sneak in some cherries here and there. And you’ll have to admit: it does look better that way.