Vermouth is back. With a Vengeance.
An inside look into the world of the uprising Spanish Vermouths.
By Vasco Valentim
Creative at VBAT
If the word Vermouth doesn’t tell you anything right away, you probably need to go out more. Shaken, not stirred, remember? — there you have it: a Vermouth based cocktail. The Martini cocktail was actually probably named after the brand Martini, a Vermouth brand founded way back in the day (1863, if you were wondering), in Torino, Italy.
So when one thinks of Vermouth, Italy or France immediately comes to mind, with Martini, Cinzano and Noilly Prat as its major icons, but in Spain, Vermouth has long been a good companion of any sunny Sunday afternoon — specially when you are sitting on a terrace, with some friends, getting ready for a long and delicious lunch.
By definition, Vermouth is a wine-based aperitif, a type of fortified and flavoured wine.
In recent years, Vermouth made a comeback in Spain and beyond, with home-grown Vermouth varieties bursting into an ever and ever growing market.
It’s safe to say that Vermouth is back and with a vengeance! Pop into any bar in Barcelona and you will easily realize that not only hipsters or yuppies or your friends are into it, but also your parents and their friends — no age group seems immune. Either black, ruby-red, straw-pale, dry or sweet, the offer is abundant and tasty. People are drinking it straight, on the rocks with a wedge of an orange slice (the Spanish way) or reinventing old cocktails that have been around for longer than you could imagine — Negroni or Manhattan, just to name a couple. Here, in Barcelona, they even have bars of the speciality — the Vermuterias.
The best thing about them, is that some actually have home-made Vermouth varieties you can taste straight from the casks displayed at the bar. So next time you are in Barcelona, go for it!
The emerging brands and its packaging.
To compete with the established benchmarks — Zarro, Iris or Miró — and create new market niches, naturally, new brands are emerging in the Spanish context. El Bandarra is just one of them, with its dashing and wonderful typography and packaging, designed by the talented Barcelona based Ivan Castro. Pop, yet quite elegant, makes you want to drink it just by its looks — simply irresistible. Ivan Castro is a graphic designer and typographer, whose works breaths colour and resonates a gracious retro époque.
Vermut Negre (Black Vermouth), from Casa Mariol is another great contender, with its packaging breaking all rules of label design. Studio Bendita Gloria, responsible for Casa Mariols curious visual identity (also worth taking a look), created this exquisite design, in line with the other products of the company. Slick, simple and recognizable, but also weird, it features complete instructions for making happy-hour cocktails. And it’s god-damn tasty as well, I can assure you that.
Launched late last year, with the quality seal from Alella Vinícula, Barbarosso Vermut goes straight to my top packaging favourites in this domain: just look at that illustration piece! So many delicious details and yet so simple and minimal in the use of colour altogether. Besides, it really stands out as perhaps the most quintessential Vermouth label design. Soon to be launched, it’s his white grape variety, Barbabianca.
And then we have Domingo (Sunday). A crafty Vermouth with a rebel and spontaneous character. Its graphic vocabulary is playful, minimal but strong, confirming a kind of new wave of identity in packaging of this aperitif, that breaks away from its older brothers much more based on heritage and story telling. These are packagings with a particular focus on straight social behaviour and attitude — younger and irreverent.
Now if you excuse me, I am on to indulge myself and prepare a nice and literally mouth-watering Negroni. Salut!
Negroni recipe:
1 part Gin
1 part Campari
1 part Barbarosso Vermut
1 orange peel
Stir it into a chilled old fashioned glass over ice and garnish with the orange twist.
Add a splash of soda water if desired.
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written by Vasco Valentim
Creative at VBAT
edited by Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT
