World Vermouth Day Date in the current year: March 21, 2024

Vermouth is one of the many types of fortified wine, i.e. wine that has a distilled spirit added to it, alongside Commandaria, Madeira, Marsala, port wine, and sherry. Its main difference from most other fortified wines is that vermouth is infused with herbs, roots, flowers, spices, and other botanical ingredients.

Although infused wines have existed for centuries and even millennia, modern vermouth was first produced in the second half of the 18th century. It originated in the Italian city of Turin and was inspired by German fortified wines flavored with wormwood. The name “vermouth” is the French pronunciation of the German word Wermut, which means wormwood.

The person credited with inventing vermouth is Italian distiller Antonio Benedetto Carpano; however, it would be more correct to say that he was the person who industrialized the production of vermouth. The drink became so popular so quickly that Caprano’s shop was reportedly open 24 hours a day.

Vermouth originated as a medicinal liquor but its use as an apéritif increased as the beverage increased in popularity. By the second half of the 19th century, bartenders used it as an ingredient in many cocktails. In addition to being consumed neat or used as a cocktail ingredient, certain varieties of vermouth can be used as an alternative to white wine in cooking.

Vermouth is produced by adding spirit and a mixture of aromatic ingredients (herbs, bark, roots) to a base of neutral wine. Each manufacturer uses a unique aromatic mixture whose exact composition is usually a trade secret. The resulting fortified and aromatized wine is then sweetened with either caramelized sugar or cane sugar and sometimes colored. There used to be two main styles of vermouth, sweet and dry, but today the drink comes in many other styles.

As we’ve already mentioned above, vermouth is a common cocktail ingredient. Some of the most popular cocktails with vermouth include the Manhattan (whiskey, sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters), the martini (gin and dry vermouth), the Negroni (gin, semi-sweet red vermouth and Campari), and the Rob Roy (a variation of the Manhattan that uses exclusively Scotch whisky).

The origins of World Vermouth Day, sometimes referred as simply Vermouth Day, are unclear, but the holiday is believed to have been created in 2020 and celebrated for the first time on March 21, 2021. However, does the origin of Vermouth Day really matter? What matters is that you have an excuse to enjoy a nice drink or two and introduce you friends to the deliciousness that is vermouth.

There are many ways to celebrate World Vermouth Day. You can go out out to a bar and enjoy your favorite cocktail with vermouth or try drinking vermouth chilled and neat, invite your friends and family over for a cocktail party, which may or may not include a cocktail-making competition, try a brand of vermouth you’ve never drunk before, splurge on a bottle of expensive vermouth, and spread the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtags #WorldVermouthDay and #VermouthDay.