Message 14759 of 39188 in General Discussion

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On Vermouth and shelf life...

A key "fact" here, is that (to the best of my knowledge) neither wine nor 
vermouth will go "bad" to the point that it will make you sick if you drink 
it... the worst that might happen to wine is that it will turn to vinegar.

I too have heard all sorts of stories about the need to keep your vermouth in 
the refrigerator, and while this "does" sound like a reasonable idea, I had 
never really heard anybody provide clear evidence to the fact.

I never refrigerate my vermouth, and with changing the cocktails that I drink 
at home around quite a bit, a bottle of vermouth can sit on my shelf for 
months some time before it is finally used up.

A while back, when I noticed that I was getting low on vermouth, before using 
it up I picked up a fresh bottle of the same brand (Noilly Prat) and then did 
a taste comparison between the two.

I "could" taste a difference. But not a tremendous one, and frankly the 
difference was about what you would expect from one brand and another. The 
older one had not gone "bad", and was perfectly fine to use in cocktails.

I know that the same test would have come out fairly differently had this been 
wine. The flavorful shelf life of a wine will definately vary from one wine to 
another. I've had some wines which could handle being "on the shelf" for 
considerable time, while others you would swear you could taste going bad 
right in your glass.

And experiment that I would recommend for all of you to try, regardless if you 
are a bartender, or just a home mixologist...

As you get "close" to using up your dry vermouth, cap it tightly then store it 
in a dark location (not in the fridge). Now buy a replacement bottle, and use 
it like you normally would. When you run of of this new bottle, buy a fresh 
bottle of the exact same brand as the one you have in storage, and do a taste 
comparison between the two. Then make whatever your favorite cocktail is which 
uses dry vermouth, and compare them. Then report back here as to what your 
findings were.

You should also do this with a bottle of wine as well. But pick up one of 
those "Vacu-Vin" things. Buy two bottles of the exact same wine (one you would 
normally consider an "every day" wine). Drink all but one glass of one bottle, 
and then apply the VacuVin cork to it, removing as much air as possible. Now 
store both bottles (the fresh bottle should probably be stored on its side, to 
keep the cork moist.) Wait at least a month, then do a taste comparison 
between them.

Swizzle... for your classes I would even recommend you set this "experiment" 
up as part of your class. It is always better to provide "first hand 
experience" for things like this.

-Robert
 www.DrinkBoy.com