How vermouth got cool (after being naff, kitsch and then retro…)

The infusion of botanicals makes this the perfect post-gin boom drink – and there are some great small-batch producers to choose from

It was only a matter of time before vermouth became fashionable again. It’s a half-century since its last heyday, an era when big Italian brands, Martini and Cinzano, were an essential element of a certain vision of jet-setting sophistication. That’s plenty of time for the cycle of fashion to complete its 360-degree rotation through naff and kitsch to ironic retro and sincere rediscovery.

It’s not just a matter of image. Vermouth’s characteristics suit the times. If a drink that derives so much of its character from an infusion of botanicals can’t find favour now, at the end of the long gin boom, it never will.