About Vermouth
Vermouth is a fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs and spices ("aromatized" in the trade) in recipes that are closely-guarded trade secrets.
The inventor of vermouth, Antonio Benedetto Carpano from Turin, Italy, chose this name in 1786 because he was inspired by a German wine fortified with wormwood, a herb most famously used in distilling absinthe. 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 cheap wine, imparting a slightly medicinal "tonic" flavor.
All Rights Reserved. Cocktail Fun. 2006.