The London Lounge

Eric Felten's article in today's Wall Street Journal is very troubling. (I think these lifestyle-type articles are free to non-subscribers.)

It discusses changes to the recipe for the U.S. version of Noilly Prat. I suspect that this was done while many of us had switched to the sour mash for the winter months.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154573030469717.html

One of the problems of stockpiling bottles is that an open bottle has a shelf life of only a few months.

Hartline and other Loungers:

I too read the article. It is most troubling indeed! Noilly Prat's change begs the question, if your martini vermouth of choice is Noilly Prat, what will you switch to?

Trey

I think the only vermouth I have ever used for dry martinis is Martini (from Martini & Rossi) in the green bottle. A small bottle goes a very long way . I only drink them when in the US, in summer. Although French, I have never tried Noilly Prat (which incidentally, appears to be owned by Martini & Rossi).

Frog in Suit

I'm told that Vya (http://www.vya.com) from California is good, but I've not tried it. For those of you (and it should be all us) for whom this matters (because it is only a matter of time before your favorite thing becomes new and improved), Noilly Prat has a Contact Us section on its website.

Frog in Suit wrote:I think the only vermouth I have ever used for dry martinis is Martini (from Martini & Rossi) in the green bottle. A small bottle goes a very long way

Frog in Suit

Presumably, this is so because it is permitted only to scent the glass!!
NJS

storeynicholas wrote:

Frog in Suit wrote:I think the only vermouth I have ever used for dry martinis is Martini (from Martini & Rossi) in the green bottle. A small bottle goes a very long way

Frog in Suit

Presumably, this is so because it is permitted only to scent the glass!!
NJS

I was told about two different methods for measuring the quantity of vermouth: One (it may have been Winston Churchill's -- Could someone be kind enough to confirm?) calls for whispering the word "vermouth" whilst in the same room as the gin, the other one (even more recherchée) entails saying "Vermont" in the same situation. A 1 to 8 proportion is what I shoot for, on the first one anyway. After the second one, it somehow does not seem so important .

Frog in Suit

This must be right - the only slight difference that I might make is not to tilt the bottle too energetically after the first salvo
NJS

I remember reading that Churchill's method was "a fleeting glimpse at the bottle of Vermouth on the other side of the room."

Robert Watkins wrote:I remember reading that Churchill's method was "a fleeting glimpse at the bottle of Vermouth on the other side of the room."

Excellent! Thank you.

Frog in Suit

Hesitate (as one must), to disagree with Churchill - does it really have to be the same room?
NJS

At the risk of sounding a spolsport...

It's droll in the utmost to go on about how miniscule (or non-existent) an amount of Vermouth one should put in a Martini or a Manhattan.

If you waat to drink Gin or Whisky neat, go ahead. Cocktails have more or less fixed proportions (and, for a Martini, they're nothing like 1:8).

This reminds me of the 1990s silliness about immoderately spicy hot sauces and the current foolishness aboput 'extreme' IBUs in craft beer.

Elegance is about a sense of proportion