Vermouth is a fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs and spices using closely-guarded recipes.
Some vermouth is sweetened; however, unsweetened, or dry, vermouth tends to be bitter.
The person credited with the first vermouth recipe, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin, Italy, chose to name his concoction "vermouth" in 1786 because he was inspired by a German wine flavored with wormwood, a herb most famously used in distilling absinthe.
This is incorrect, however, as vermouth flavored with wormwood goes back to ancient Rome.
The modern German word Wermut (Wermuth in the spelling of Carpano's time) means both wormwood and vermouth. The herbs were originally used to mask raw flavors of cheaper wines, imparting a slightly medicinal "tonic" flavor.
Some vermouth is sweetened; however, unsweetened, or dry, vermouth tends to be bitter.
The person credited with the first vermouth recipe, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin, Italy, chose to name his concoction "vermouth" in 1786 because he was inspired by a German wine flavored with wormwood, a herb most famously used in distilling absinthe.
This is incorrect, however, as vermouth flavored with wormwood goes back to ancient Rome.
The modern German word Wermut (Wermuth in the spelling of Carpano's time) means both wormwood and vermouth. The herbs were originally used to mask raw flavors of cheaper wines, imparting a slightly medicinal "tonic" flavor.
