Vermouth has begun to expand in the province, as the craft spirits culture has matured and the diversity of spirits, liqueurs and products has grown. Selections of vermouth for most bars has long been confined to the classics, Noilly Prat, Cinzano and Martini; in recent years, imported vermouth have been making inroads into BC and has shown that the market is there for experimentation and different styles. British Columbia’s vermouth revolution started a couple of years ago with the release of Odd Society’s Bittersweet vermouth and in recent months, multiple styles coming from Esquimalt Wine Co., Marrow and Beaufort Wines have set the tone for the category in the future.
Odd Society Bittersweet
One of the first in Canada, if not the very first; the Bittersweet is based on based on an old Italian sweet vermouth recipe found in an antique notebook, this reimagination combines 25 botanicals including orange, arbutus bark, cherry bark and wormwood infused into fine BC wine fortified with their malted barley spirit. The balance in the vermouth is a perfect mixing ingredient, bold enough to partner with brown spirits but fragrant enough to blend with gin. With Odd Society also producing the Wallflower Gin along with their amaro, Mia Amata; combining all three makes a fantastic deep Negroni variation.
DEVINE Spirits
DEVINE Spirits is a small distillery located on a beautiful property on the Saanich Peninsula, the farm to bottle mentality along with Ken Winchester’s constant researching allows them to create an amazing array of spirits using a variety of raw materials. Their two vermouths, the Bianca and Moderna are French and Italian styles respectively; the Bianca utilises island grapes and is fortified with their honey spirits, it is elegant with bright apricot, chamomile and jasmine with a nice aromatic spice underneath, perfect for classic Vesper styles. The Moderna style harks to Turin styles like your heavily aromatized with over 30 botanicals that gives you orange, clove, cardamom, rose and juniper with the medium bitterness of wormwood.
Ampersand Vermouth
Ampersands Imperative was the first classic styled, dry vermouth in the province; a partnership between Ampersand and Rathjen winery, it uses Ortega & Auxerrois grapes and is fortified with their wheat-based vodka, Per Se. The botanicals include wormwood grown on Ampersand’s farm, and roasted dandelion root, chamomile, marjoram, and orange peel leading to a bright, flavourful dry vermouth that is perfect for using as a substitute for the classic styles. The Imperative was released in early 2018 and has since been popular throughout the province, becoming a house dry vermouth for many local farm to table restaurants and bars everywhere.
Marrow Vermouth
Shawn Dalton’s passion for natural wine started years ago on the plains of Saskatchewan years ago, while figuring out how to create his own vermouth while managing a bar in Regina led him to explore aromatised wine and vermouth further. That spark fuelled the trips to Spain and discovering that vermouth represents a place, that drinking vermouth over ice in the Spanish sun is a experience unto itself. After exploring the styles, he arrived in the Okanagan and realised that it was the place to build on his wine and vermouth knowledge and create his very own. Marrow Vermouth launched in early 2019 combining wine from Sage Hills and 26 botanicals to create a classic Spanish inspired drinking vermouth; since then he has released a couple more vermouths and an amaro, a small brand making big moves in BC.
Esquimalt Wine Co.
From the duo that brought you Rootside Sodas in 2015, started developing their own vermouth after attending a vermouthcentric event at Odd Society in 2017. This sparked the creative couple to begin the exploration into aperitif wines and vermouths, they spent the next two and a half years researching botanicals, recipe development and wine making that lead to the creation and release of their Rosso in mid-2019. Their traditional style Italian rosso vermouth has a distinct Vancouver Island character, it blends clover blossom mead with schönburger from Venturi-Schulze Vineyards and spirit from Stillhead Distillery along with 32 different herbs and spices. The rosso has been hugely successful since it’s release with more styles coming this year.
Beaufort Wine
Katie Phelan spent years in Italy enjoying vermouth on the rocks, she set out to recreate that style of aperitif here on Vancouver Island. It starts with 11 botanicals each individually extracted in Sheringham Vodka and then combined with a base wine which is a single varietal, Vancouver Island grown Madeleine Sylvaner from their winemaker at Beaufort, Freya Timmermans. The full list of botanicals is a secret, but the recipe includes wormwood, rosemary from Beaufort, juniper, lemon, real vanilla beans and then balanced to off-dry with cane sugar. This amazing Vancouver Island interpretation of a bianco vermouth showcases what can be created with international knowledge and local know how.
The rise of craft spirits that has led to the expansion and diversity of products available in the province, something that wasn’t expected five years ago. Having the products to be able to recreate provincially inspired classics such as the Negroni, the Manhattan and Martini was never envisioned. Now, British Columbia has matured to a point that you can now open a venue focussing strictly on local spirits and be able to build a considerable cocktail menu. Explore BC vermouth as soon as possible.