Vermouth is closely tied to cocktail culture, a staple ingredient in classics like the Martini or Manhattan. I have written a lengthy post about vermouth here, including some basic history, recipes, and advice for caring for your vermouth.
Adam Ford has just released a comprehensive and beautiful book on this amazing fortified wine, titled: Vermouth, The Revival of the Spirit that Created American Cocktail Culture. Ford does a great job of delivering a helpful and informative book on vermouth, which he reckons is the “world’s oldest alcoholic beverage.”
On rough estimation, I’d say a third of this book is committed to history of vermouth, a third to America’s role in vermouth (historically and currently), and a third is a cocktail recipe section. The heavy leaning toward American vermouth is useful, as there really isn’t much of a source for these facts elsewhere. It’s helpful that the author is an authority on American vermouth – he’s the founder of NY-based Atsby.
The photography in Vermouth is melancholy (see the cover photo above, for example), and the photos fit perfectly well with the style and the layout of the book, which has a very clear sense of it’s own style, and fits perfectly with the subject matter. Anyone with a passing interest in cocktail history, and vermouth in particular, will enjoy Ford’s book very much, and the recipes serve as a handy guide for exploring vermouth further as well.
