By Claudio Bedini, Bar Manager, Sammy Junior. Follow him @claudio_bedini_5
Earlier this year, Sammy Jnr hosted a series of events dedicated to vermouth. The series took its name from the Italian term, ‘The Vermouth Hour’, a fashion that developed between the end of the 1800 and the beginning of the 1900s in Turin, the capital of vermouth. It used to be the time, normally one or two hours before going to dinner, when labourers would finish their shift in the factories, employees would get out of their offices and students and the rest of the city would flood the streets of Turin. It was a moment in which the whole city would brighten!
Cafes and liquor stores would fill up with people from all social classes. They’d get together and discuss the day, business, and politics,… eat some pastries and drink this beautiful, aperitif wine. You might as well say that it was the first, rudimentary aperitivo Italy had ever seen. It was a custom so beautiful and engaging that it would later spread across all of Italy and Europe.
Our aim at Sammy Junior was not only to recreate that beautiful vibe but also to create an opportunity for the people of our industry to get together and get to know each other.
Our aim was to promote this fantastic product, and do so by retracing its origin and development, by giving it more visibility and creating awareness around it. To do so we invited some of the biggest brands of vermouth, to showcase their products, and also to tell us a little bit about their history and that of this amazing wine.
At each event we went back in time and covered a specific part in the history of vermouth; its origin and transformation, from medicinal wine to the beautiful aperitif we know it to be today. We saw why the denomination Vermouth di Torino is so historically and geographically important and the huge impact vermouth had on the world of mixology, and vice versa, and how it completely revolutionised the styles of drinking.
We follow the beginning, and development, of classic cocktails like the Americano and of legends of mixology such as Harry Johnson and Harry Craddock. We talked about the beautiful advertisements and posters made by big and famous artists such as Armando Testa, Marcello Dudovich and Andy Warhol.
“If we really want vermouth to make its way into the habits of the people, the only way to facilitate it is by promoting education and information around it. The product itself is absolute excellence, no doubt about that, it is just a matter of getting people to try it, to be open-minded about it.” – Claudio Bedini, Bar Manager, Sammy Jnr
We hosted Berto, with its Vermouth di Torino Superiore, we had a contemporary vermouth, created for mixology, like Oscar, as well as one of the oldest brands of Vermouth, Cinzano, which with its 1757 range which managed to combine these two factors, tradition and contemporary mixology. We had big and delicious brands such as Cocchi, Martini and Carpano, that have made the history of this incredible product.
For each event, we created a menu of classic cocktails, some of which most renowned, like the martinez and the vieux carre, some other almost forgotten, like the Froupe and the Chrysanthemum, drinks that really showcase and highlight the complexity and versatility of vermouth. All this gave the opportunity to the people to understand and appreciate more vermouth.
Getting to know and taste the range of many different brands, on their own and in beautiful, classic cocktails allowed people to learn and taste the versatility and the many uses vermouth can have. Take the new, contemporary Biancos made by Oscar and Berto, for example, or the Ambrato Riserva Speciale made by Martini. Many people were totally unaware of the existence of this category. That is because traditional Biancos are totally absent from classic mixology. They were traditionally produced and marketed simply to appeal to the women’s palate of the time, which just wanted something lighter and fruitier than classic vermouth. Conversely, contemporary Biancos can bring about the same viscosity, richness and complexity of a rosso or a dry. They can really elevate classic cocktails traditionally made with dry, such as the Turf Club, Coronation Cocktail or the Tuxedo. People were absolutely amazed when they tried these revisited classics!
If we really want vermouth to make its way into the habits of the people, the only way to facilitate it is by promoting education and information around it. The product itself is absolute excellence, no doubt about that, it is just a matter of getting people to try it, to be open-minded about it.
Just stocking it into our back bar is not enough, I believe we have to make people curious about it, tell them about its incredible history, and do so as an industry, collectively. I was extremely happy with the interest shown by the industry for the series. The turnout at each event has been absolutely amazing and beyond all our expectations. It was really great seeing the same people coming back class after class.