The Vermouth Challenge

That dusty bottle at the back of your liquor cabinet deserves some respect.

What to Drink in 2009

Anticipating a year of wine and booze discoveries.

Americano

The more subtle sister of the Negroni.

I have to side with those who assert quite rightly that a martini is made with gin and vermouth and that a glass of vodka is not a vodka martini. Certainly since martinis were originally made with gin and Martini and Rossi...

tomato. I am much more particular about the vermouth than the gin. Gilbeys or better will do, Beefeater is my favorite, but with nothing less than Noilly Prat or Martini and Rossi. I’ll have to try that Kina Lillet –...

I drink vodka martinis generally, but my choice is Martini and Rossi vermouth, a couple drops of Angostura, and Grey Goose. Husband drinks gin and simply switches the Grey Goose to Tanqueray.

-your-face and can overpower the more delicate gins; Martini & Rossi (my preferred) and Cinzano, not so much. Enjoy your martini adventures! Cheers, Xochitl10

for the typical “defaults”, which in my neighborhood are Bombay Sapphire (a gin I rather dislike), Martini & Rossi Extra Dry (an inferior vermouth, in my opinion), and no bitters at all (an uphill battle to fight)....

drops of orange bitters. It’s critical to use a tasty vermouth: I loathe Martini & Rossi Extra Dry, the best-selling dry vermouth in the States. I’ve also found that vermouth, especially dry, doesn’t keep very...

options you should consider include Vya Extra Dry, a wonderful artisanal vermouth from the Quady winery in Madera, CA (their Sweet is also outstanding); Lillet Blanc (not quite vermouth, but French, white, fortified, and...

, but Noilly Pratt or Martini & Rossi or Stock all are fine). Stir briskly untill the outside of the pitcher starts to frost or condense. Strain into a Martini glass and garnish with either a lemon twist or an olive. (The inquiry...

and dry), a very subtle, complexly herbal vermouth. (I have a strong distaste for Martini & Rossi's dry vermouth; Boissiere is probably my favorite of the widely distributed dry vermouths). I also like to play with non-vermouth...

of at least two, preferably three ingredients. So that means using some dry vermouth, and avoiding the many bad ones (Martini & Rossi is particularly nasty, I think). My favorites are Vya (from a boutique producer based in...

A few tail gurus are leading a charge to get people into this oft-overlooked fortified wine.

I saw somewhere that Martini & Rossi sold in Israel is or was under kosher supervision.