Vermouth as it seems, is really the genesis of the themes that I have discussed in the above pieces. For those that don’t know what Vermouth is. It’s an aromatized, fortified and often sweetened wine. Not too different to a gin, but much lower alcohol. Vermouth is a key constituent in many of the world’s great cocktails but can also be phenomenal when drunk on its own.
I feel a little guilty for saying we benefited from the Autumn of Lockdown, but we were incredibly grateful to have 2 of Sydney’s most respected and talented bar tenders, Evan Stroeve and Sam Walker isolating in our region for an extended period. Both being old friends, they were keen to be involved in the Vermouth journey and there is no way we would be where we are now if it wasn’t for their help and guidance. We have three predominant base ingredients, white wine, neutral (96% alcohol spirit) and an Eau De Vie made from some smoke affected Gewurtz Traminer fruit we had distilled for us by Stone Pine Distillery here in Bathurst.
In addition to these fluids, we have sourced and foraged a cacophony of botanicals. Using artemisia (wormwood), to peppercorns, fennel, myrtles, seablite, seville orange and so on. I believe we have made something along the lines of 50 or 60 separate infusions. Many unfortunately didn’t make the cut. We’ve spent an age sourcing, infusing, assessing and repeating again and again until we had something that we could consider blending. We are now sitting with 2 prototype Vermouths and are excited for the next stages in the process. It looks as if we should have something for you all to sample in around 12 months from now. Stay posted.
A little snap shot into the process. These were some of the first infusions we made, predominantly in wine. around 50 more have followed. One of our star ingredients is to be the Seville Oranges, that live out front of the house, which are incredible fruitful this year.
