How do you like your martini?

This sounds pretty interesting.

I’d hit that.

Off topic- my son came over the other day with a t-shirt that said “I’d hit that”- and below it was a pinata. I love that kid

Noice! I love a good vesper.

When I saw the word alpine the first thing that came to mind was St. George Terroir. It might be a good fit in a classic vesper, the vodka taming the strong fir.

In my current martini phase, I started out with Noilly Pratt vermouth. It was fine. Next time, I found a bottle of Carpano Dry. Even better, with some citrusy and floral notes. I ran out of it, and grabbed another bottle at the store. But this was their Bianco variety. It’s sweet! I wouldn’t have pictured a white vermouth to be sweet. The martini wasn’t very good. So, back to the store today for the Dry variety. Now I have to figure out what to do with a nearly full bottle of sweetish vermouth.

I mentioned in the Gin topic that I’ve been using Costco’s Kirkland London Gin. It’s more complex than my old favorite Tanqueray. Recommended!

You could make a martinez with it.

Try drinking it over rocks with a twist of lemon or orange. Maybe a few drops of bitters.

Negroni.

We suffered the bianco mistake once as well. Our preferred martini vermouth is Dolin dry, but for some months it has been in short supply. The blue label Dolin is a sweet white. It was ok but not great in several drinks that call for sweet vermouth. We tried a few, made the mistake of cooking with it, and eventually polished it off. Ernie, you seem to go for more assertive vermouths. Try Vya.

I heartily second this! Vya is my hands down all time favorite dry vermouth, and my favorite sweet depending on the drink (excellent in a Manhattan, too much spice for a Negroni IMO). Unfortunately it disappeared from stores here in New England a few years ago, for whatever reason. I figured the brand was dead; really nice to know it’s still alive. Thank you for suggesting it; off to find a web site to order some from.

Is there a sweet white vermouth variation? That could definitely work, although it’s more delicate and might be overwhelmed by the Campari.

For me that’s Carpano Antica followed by Punt e Mes.

I’ll put in plugs for Cocchi Torino and for Punt e Mes.

A white Negroni subs Cocchi Americano for vermouth, and I think this works similarly.

Punt e Mes for sure - my favorite for a Negroni. Double bitter for the win. I think I’m the only person on the planet who doesn’t like Carpano Antica; I find the vanilla notes to be distracting.

Another amazing one, now that I think more about it, is Vergano Americano. It’s a bit brighter both in color and flavor, with cherrylike notes backed with a smoother bitterness than that of Punt e Mes. Really delicious and unique.

I do not dislike Carpano Antica, but I too find the strong vanilla notes overwhelm most cocktails. It might be interesting affogato.

I would love to try it!