Drinks
Red Vermouth on Ice
One ingredient, one piece of ice, one strip of orange. The most underrated drink in the fridge.
Prep
2 min
Cook
0 min
Serves
1
Level
Easy
Ingredients
75ml — sweet red vermouth, cold
1 — large ice cube
1 — strip of orange peel
soda water, optional
This is what I drink when I want something at six in the evening and do not want a project. It is one ingredient and it costs almost nothing.
Good red vermouth is a genuinely complex drink on its own, and the fact that we mostly treat it as a modifier for other spirits is a collective mistake.
Method
Put one large cube in a short glass. One large cube rather than four small ones — less surface area, slower dilution.
Pour the vermouth over it.
Squeeze the orange peel over the surface and drop it in.
Top with soda if you want it longer, which I usually do on a warm evening and never in winter.
A note
Buy the good bottle. It is still cheaper than gin, it lasts a month in the fridge, and the difference is enormous.
Good to know
More About This Recipe
Nutrition
Calories
115 kcal
Protein
0g
Carbs
8g
Fat
0g
Tips & tricks
One large cube, not a handful of small ones — less surface area means it dilutes slowly instead of watering the drink down in ten minutes.
Keep the bottle in the fridge once it’s open — vermouth is wine, and it turns dull and flat on the counter within a couple of weeks.
Buy a good bottle. There’s nowhere for a mediocre one to hide when it’s the only ingredient.
Substitutions
Sweet red vermouth
A dry white vermouth for something lighter and less sweet — same method.
Orange peel
Lemon peel, if that's what's in the fridge — it changes the aromatics but not the drink.
Pairs well with
Sweet vermouth's dried-fruit note stands up to the brown butter better than most wine would.
Storage & leftovers
The drink itself doesn't keep once poured over ice, but the bottle does — refrigerated and sealed, a good vermouth holds for about a month before it starts to fade.
Questions people ask
Is vermouth just for cocktails?
How long does an opened bottle last?
What's a good bottle to start with?
Postcards from my kitchen
Made this one?
Tell me how it went, or what you did differently. The best changes to these recipes have come from readers.