The Bar Journal

You probably know that vermouth is an ingredient often used in classic cocktails like the Dry Martini and the Negroni. Unfortunately, during the bad old days of cocktail making, bartenders too often left the bottles to sit on bar shelves for weeks or even months. When the dusty tops were finally screwed off, the vermouth inside was at best lifeless and bland; at worst, it had already begun the slow transition into sherry/port sort of wine.
As carefully-made cocktails came back into vogue, so did bartenders’ attention to properly storing and caring for ingredients.

In order to solve the issue, we have to analyse what makes Vermouth to go off:

– There are a few different factors that can cause good vermouth to turn off:
Microbial Spoilage. Bacteria and mold like to live in moist environments where plenty of food (sugar) is available. Luckily, the alcohol and aromatic herbs used to produce vermouth help to fight microbial growth, but not so much that bad stuff couldn’t grow eventually. In most cases, acetic acid bacteria will be the primary culprit: these guys digest the alcohol in wine and slowly turn it into vinegar.

– Oxidation. Oxygen reacts with esters, terpenes, and other volatile aromatic compounds responsible for light, fresh, fruity, and floral flavors found in wine. Compounds that lose electrons and bind with oxygen are called reducing agents. These include phenols (often derived from the skins, stems, and seeds of wine grapes) which are responsible for some of the astringency and color of red wine. Since red wines are high in these phenols, red wines are more able to weather oxidation without harmful effects. Since vermouth is almost always made with a white wine base, it’s particularly vulnerable to oxidation.

– Loss of aroma. This one’s pretty straightforward. When you pour vermouth out of a bottle and replace the liquid in the bottle with air, volatile aromatics escape from the remaining wine and fill the headspace, leaving your remaining vermouth slightly less aromatic.

How to combat these problems: Refrigeration.
Cold temperatures slow down many physical and chemical processes, sometimes dramatically.

A good quality Vermouth could last up to 6/7 months If not open and keep it in a fresh room with soft lighting. But after you open the bottle must be finish in 4 weeks, max 6 weeks before the taste profile will start to develop, however with the current cocktail renascence a bottle of Vermouth shouldn’t last more than two days before next one will be open….

SALUTE!

GIUSEPPE GALLO