If I’m making a scotch based cocktail though, Martini & Rossi Rosso is by far the best to my taste. Cinzano is okay, but the Martini & Rossi seems to meld better with the scotch. Mind you, I tend to you use more strongly flavored blended scotches in my cocktails than most people do. I prefer Teacher’s Highland Cream over Famous Grouse because I like scotch to taste like scotch. Heck, I’ll even make a couple of coctails with Laphroig 10 year single malt now and again. (Not very often though, because when I have the Laphroig, I mostly really really want to drink it neat or over the rocks…).

Oh and I love my Punt e Mes in gin based cocktails. Adesso in Oakland, CA serves a cocktail called a Nerina, which uses Plymouth gin, Carpano Punt e Mes, and Meletti Amaro. A woundrous drink. Punt e Mes is also very lovely in brandy/cognac or rye based drinks. Manhattans, Gin & It’s, and Cremonas…

I haven’t had a chance to try Carpano Antica yet…

GREAT personal history on your experience with M&R, Paul. I was seriously dismayed at the poor quality of what I had and, again, at the distinct difference between it and all the others. Which, as you mention, may very well be due to an overly aged bottle. The store from which I purchased it does tuck their vermouth area back in the nether regions. Good point on the Antica and Cinzano, ‘brighter’ is just about the perfect word to describe the Cinzano. Also, good clarification on vermouth’s beginnings. I obviously should have been more specific and stated he first ‘marketed aromatized wine under the name vermouth…’ instead of the overly broad ‘developed’, such are the pitfalls of being, well, me. That poster is still damned creepy though.

I’m obviously, after reading the eGullet forum I’ve linked to, and your fine recommendations, going to have to try the Carpano in a Manhattan. I’m far more excited about this than any rationale adult male should be.

Thanks again for the corrections and comments, guys, they’re great!

Great post. I personally prefer Noilly for my white vermouth (although my wife likes the Boissiere a lot too) and Cinzano for my “well” red–with Antica and Punt e Mes as my upmarket variants. Like Erik, I love the Antica in a Manhattan, although I think it’s too strong for a Negroni. (I still sometimes use it in a Negroni, but for that purpose I scale back the vermouth.)

For no good reason, I’ve yet to try the Vya products even though they’re readily available. Probably because I’m frequently stupid.

And, there’s a difference between bianco and French-style vermouth — French vermouth is your typical extra-dry style, while bianco is actually a slightly sweet white vermouth that you hardly ever see used in cocktails (though Jim Meehan, formerly of Gramercy Tavern and now of PDT, I believe, has a nice little number with Plymouth gin and bianco vermouth — let me see if I can find that recipe somewhere).

I’m normally not a big fan of the Martini & Rossi vermouth, but with the reaction you had to the flavor I suspect you got a bottle that had been sitting on the shelf for a long time. I used to be a Cinzano man, and I really disdained the M&R product, then a little over a year ago I toured their facility, tried the fresh vermouth I found in cafes in Turin (where M&R is THE vermouth), and came away with a different attitude. Something a lot of people don’t realize (though I’m not saying you’re one of them) is that vermouth is a WINE, and should be treated as one — over time, its delicate character changes, especially once it’s opened, or if it’s been sitting on the shelf for years, maybe in direct sunlight or just below a heating vent. I’m still not a big M&R drinker, now that I’m hooked on the Antica, and the brighter flavors of Cinzano make it my house mixing vermouth, but I’ve come to appreciate the M&R much more than I did before.

Also, the Antica is my go-to vermouth for Manhattans; I need to decrease the amount of vermouth in the drink just slightly, but it gives a real whammo experience with a robust rye like Rittenhouse bonded. If you come across the Vya dry, you can make a blockbuster cocktail using equal parts Vya & Antica, with a dash or two of orange bitters. That’s the staple drink I make for my low-alcohol-tolerance mother-in-law.