Dry Vermouth

Vermouth the French for German Wermut, Wormwood in English, is an aromatic fortified Wine, flavoured with various botanicals like roots, barks, flowers, herbs, seeds and spices.

Although traditionally Vermouth was used for medicinal purposes, it has been also served as an apéritif in its modern avatar. The modern Vermouth first appeared in and around the 18th Century in Turin. By the late 19th Century it became very popular with bartenders as a key ingredient in cocktail mixology.

Martini, Manhattan, Rob Roy and Negroni were a few cocktails that Vermouth grew in popularity with. But later during the 20th Century, Vermouth slowly lost its glory and Dry Martinis and extra Dry Martinis with little or no Vermouth gained over the original Martini. Modern Martinis usually have a splash of Vermouth to add that herbacious texture to it.

Historically, there have been two Vermouth types, Dry and Sweet, but with demand variations have come up now. that include extra-dry white, sweet white, red, amber and rose.

Vermouth is produced by adding proprietory mixture of aromatic botanicals to a base wine or a base wine plus spirit or spirit only, which is usually redistilled before adding it to a base of neutral grape wine or unfermented wine must ( freshly pressed grapes and the juice ). After the wine is aromatised and fortified. it is sweetened and the end product is a Vermouth.

Dry Vermouth is what makes the character of the original Martini, and a Dry Vermouth has less sugar and is more herbacious but less spicier than Sweet Vermouth.

Dubonnet Rouge Aperitif Wine

Dubonnet is the Grand Aperitif de France, it is a sweet, aromatic wine based aperitif. It has a wonderful history, and it was in 1846, Joseph Dubonnet created Dubonnet, in response to a competition called by the French Government to find a solution to the problem of it's inability to persuade the French Foreign Legionnaires in North Africa to drink Quinine, the only medicine for Malaria.

Dubonnet is available in Rouge, Blanc and Gold. Dubonnet is known to be the favourite beverage of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson Rockefeller.

The main ingredients of Dubonnet are a Red Wine base with a distinct base of Ruby Red, Ruby Cabernet and Muscat of Alexander, Herbs and spices including blackcurrant, essence of tea and others. Cinchona bark, the original medicinal ingredient derived from the bark of the cinchona tree and cane sugar.

Note that a historical equivalent of Dubonnet is Gin and Tonic, Tonic Water was invented to make European Soldiers in South Asia drink the quinine tonic.

Important Note , Dubonnet is Vermouth, although Vermouth is a fortified aromatised wine, but unlike Vermouth it's primary ingredient was never Wormwood, so Dubonnet is not a Vermouth, although both are very similar and are interchangeable.

Gin

Gin is a distilled alcoholic beverage that has it's origin in medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe. The historical Gin producing regions are Southern France, Flanders and Netherlands. Gin was originally created to provide aqua vitae from grape and grain distillates.

During the Middle ages, the newly found substance Ethanol was considered by Alchemists to be the water of life, and an aqueous solution of ethanol was in use all over Europe and had different names and is literally the origin of many spirits like Whisky ( from the Gaelic uisce beatha for water of life ). Today Gin is produces from a wide range of ingredients, which gave rise to numerous distinct styles and brands. The predominant flavour of Gin is from the Juniper berries and then each different distillery flavours it further with an assortment of botanicas or herbs, spices, floral and fruit flavours, in different combinations. Gin is commonly drank mixed with Tonic water but it is also often used as a base spirit for many gin based flavoured liqueurs like Sloe Gin.

Sherry

Sherry is a fortified wine of Spanish origin. This is a fortified wine made from the white palomino grapes that grow near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. The name Sherry is the anglicisation of Xérès (Jerez).

Sherry is produced in several styles including light sherries like Manzanilla and fino, similar to white table wines, and darker and heavier wines such as Amontillado and oloroso, that are allowed to oxidise as they age in barrels.

Sherry is fortified with grape spirit after the fermentation is complete, where as Port, a similar wine from Portugal is fortified half way through the fermentation which stops further fermentation of sugar into alcohol. Thus, Port is sweeter and Sherry is usually Dry and sweetness if any is added later.

So, Dry Sherry is essentially the wine which has completed fermentation and has little to no sugar from the grapes left in it.

There are naturally sweet Sherry too, Moscatel, made from the grapes by the same name and they are produced like Port, that is, fermentation is stopped mid way, and there is Pedro Ximénez too.

Grand Marnier

Grand Marnier is a French liqueur brand. Their most well known product is Grand MarnierCordon Rouge, an Orange flavoured liqueur created by Alexander Marnier Lapostolle in 1880.
It is made from a blend of Cognac brandy, distilled essence of bitter orange and sugar. It is 40% ABV or 80 proof in USA.

Grand Marnier is a French Brand of liqueurs. The most well-known product is the Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, an orange flavoured liqueur made from a blend of Cognac, brandy, distilled essence of bitter Orange and sugar. The Cordon Rouge was created in 1880 by Alexander Marnier-Lapostolle. It has 40% ABV.
Grand Mariner is full of rich, complex flavours and intrigues of the Cognac, and makes cocktails taste. A Grand Mariner is a blend of Cognac and Triple Sec, it's not a traditional Curacao, it's a similar orange liqueur.