I usually use a bit of sherry in my sweet vermouth recipe, typically about an ounce and a half of Amontillado or Oloroso. In my most recent batch, I had a hankering for more sherry, so I kicked it up to 5 ounces. Then, after reading an interesting article in PUNCH, I decided to try my hand at making a completely sherry-based vermouth.

Now that you've returned from reading the article that I linked to, you know that some sherry bodegas make vermouth from a base of Amontillado or Oloroso sherry, infused with bitter and aromatic ingredients, and sweetened with Pedro Ximénez sherry.

First attempt

To test the concept, I started with 250 ml of Savory & James Amontillado, and proportional amounts of my standard vermouth ingredients (bitter orange peel, sweet orange peel, anise, clove, cardamom, juniper, dandelion, gentian, cinchona, and wormwood.) I chilled the mixture for about half an hour (for a proper taste comparison) and then sweetened it by adding González Byass Pedro Ximénez, 15 ml at a time. Once I had found a good level of sweetness, I made a few adjustments to the bitter components.

Here's what I wound up with:

• 250 ml Amontillado
• 50 ml PX
• 15 ml Bitter Orange
• 5 ml Sweet Orange
• 20 dr Anise
• 10 dr Clove
• 25 dr Cardamom
• 15 dr Juniper
• 20 dr Dandelion
• 25 dr Gentian
• 30 dr Cinchona
• 25 dr Wormwood

Tasting notes

I tasted this new concoction against the two most recent batches of my regular vermouth, as well as Vya sweet vermouth and Carpano Antica. I also compared it to the regular vermouth with a pair of calibration Manhattans (Canadian Club 100% Rye and no bitters, so the vermouth takes center stage.)

First off, it's no where near as sweet as the Carpano or the Vya. It's not even that close to my regular vermouth. However, the PX sherry lends a pleasant syrupy feel without overwhelming sweetness that I have been trying, and failing, to achieve for a while now.

I found that the sherry base can stand up to more bitter flavors. Usually, too much wormwood and gentian will linger long after the other flavors have died away. Not always a bad thing, but at some point it becomes unpleasant. The sherries, especially the PX, have a much longer and more complex finish than my usual boxed wine base, which balances out the stronger lingering bitterness.

In the Manhattans, the sherry-based vermouth worked very well. One of the other tasters noted that the standard vermouth Manhattan needed a bit of bitters, but the sherry-based vermouth Manhattan made a complete drink without. Interestingly, the sherry was more recognizable in the Manhattan than in the straight vermouth.

What's next?

I haven't run the complete numbers in quite a while, but I think my vermouth generally costs a little less than $10/bottle to produce. The sherry-based vermouth is nowhere near as cheap. This initial batch cost about $17.50. By sourcing the right ingredients in the right quantities, I can bring that down, but not by much. For at least that reason, this won't become my everyday vermouth, but I will definitely keep working on it.