Vermouth, built
Vermouth & Tonic
Barline 2,t,Ho
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Sweet vermouth
- top with Tonic water
Build in the glass over ice, then lift once with a barspoon.
Highball, iced, orange twist.
Taste
Two ounces of sweet vermouth, then tonic to the top of an iced highball. Wormwood, vanilla, and dried orange from the vermouth over quinine, with the wine's sugar and the tonic's meeting in the middle. Low proof and long; an orange twist on top.
History
Spain drinks vermouth as its own occasion, la hora del vermut, poured from the tap in bars across Madrid and Barcelona from the late nineteenth century on and served over ice with a slice of orange, an olive, and a splash of soda or tonic. Punch lists tonic with vermouth beside sherry and white port as the Iberian answer to the Gin and Tonic, fortified wine in the spirit's place. This menu pours two ounces of sweet vermouth and tops with tonic over ice, orange twist.
Same shape, other bottles
The Highball family, with the bottle that changed.
- Sherry & Tonicsherry for sweet vermouth
- Campari & Tonicwith Campari
- Gin & Tonicwith gin
- Vodka & Tonicwith vodka
- Americanosoda water for tonic water
- Fernet and Gingerginger beer for tonic water
This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.