The Spanish vermouth revival

The little note I published yesterday predicting that vermouth would be one of the fashionable drinks in the UK this year sent me googling this morning and discovering that the phenomenon is well and truly under way in Spain.
Back in March The Washington Post posted In Barcelona, vermouth enjoys a spirited revival giving details of the renaissance in a country where, "though it never disappeared from the old-school spots, the tawny-colored liquor — which can be served up or on the rocks, with or without a squirt of soda, and garnished with a lemon twist, an orange slice, a green olive or nothing at all — has recently started turning up all over town."

Even the Adria brothers (of El Bulli and every trendy restaurant in Barcelona fame) have gotten in on the act with their recently opened vermutería, Bodega 1900.

The Life and Arts section of The Financial Times was on to the vermouth renaissance back in August 2013. In trend-obsessed Barcelona, it reported, vermut (the Catalan word for vermouth) has taken over from gin and tonic as the tipple of the moment, moving from the back of the drinks cabinet to the forefront of fashion.

Here, at least, there is more to vermouth than a mere drink. “Fer vermut” (“doing vermouth”) is a distinctive ritual with its own set of rules. Vermouth in Barcelona is taken at the end of the morning, or just possibly at the start of the evening. It is associated with snacks ranging from a plate of crunchy green olives and a basket of potato crisps to an anchovy cured in olive oil, a tin of mussels in spicy sauce or a bowl of crisp-friedcalamares.