No Olive, Please

Vermouth is a tawny mixture of herbs and fermented grape juice whose origins are as murky as Louisiana Snake Oil.* Ancient Romans gulped vermouth as a surefire aphrodisiac, while as late as 1720, Frenchmen celebrated it as a preventive against plague. Last week, John L. Tribuno, head of Vermouth Industries of America, biggest domestic producer, announced that the ancient elixir was breaking all records in the U.S., but for a 20th century reason: the rise of the dry martini as the great U.S. national cocktail.

With sales of U.S.-produced vermouth running at some 4,000,000 gals, annually, about 10% better than last year, Americans are learning to mix vermouth with many things. Thousands of U.S. housewives use it in place of wine in the kitchen, whip up Asparagus Vermouth. Veal in Vermouth, Chicken in Vermouth. But the U.S. pours 95% of its vermouth into cocktails, most of it into the ever-dryer martini. And the wonder to Vermouthman Tribuno is that so much gets in. There once was a time when martinis had as much vermouth as gin. But now the rage is for dry martinis with dry vermouth in miniscule proportion. The very dry (six to one), the very, very dry (twelve to one) and the powder dry (25 to one) martini have taken over; there is the explosive "Montgomery" at 15 to one and the "Hemingway" at 64 to one. Every drinker has his own private" formula. One Manhattanite buys gin by the case, carefully pours out a twelfth of each bottle, tops them off again with vermouth, then puts the case on ice for a ready-mixed supply. Others ease in vermouth with eye droppers and perfume sprayers. Some purists merely pass an uncorked vermouth bottle over the gin; some merely shout the word out loud.

Nothing enrages the sophisticate more than olives, onions or other hors d'oeuvres in a martini. But a twist of lemon peel is usually acceptable. In faraway Wisconsin, the latest cult insists on an anchovy-stuffed olive.

Every vermouth producer has his own secret formula to provide a slightly different taste for devotees. In Manhattan, President Tribuno personally blends each batch of 30 to 40 exotic herbs--blessed thistle, angelica, hyssop, elder flowers. Roman camomile, clary sage, sweet marjoram, etc.--into the vermouth's white-wine base. A jolt of 180-186-proof brandy (90-93% alcohol), fortifies the wine. The vermouth ages for months before it is blended with other vermouth and filtered. As for Vermouthman Tribuno, his formula is a conservative martini, four parts gin to one part vermouth. Says he: "I could mix it dryer, but with this ratio, I figure I'll live longer."

* The Germans probably gave the drink its name from wermuth, meaning "man of courage"; others say it comes from the English "wormwood," once a prime ingredient.

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