Cooking Lesson #524: Vermouth-Cassis Cocktail

…from the Perspectives’ Happy Hour Bar

How you doin’? The first cocktail I ever tasted was a Vermouth-Cassis at La Petite Café in Hollywood, California—it had an interesting unique taste profile. I continued to enjoy a V-C when I went to cooking school in France—of course everything tastes better when you’re eating and drinking in Paris, right?
 
A Vermouth-Cassis is a simple and light drink, perfect for hot summer days or any change of season, especially when you move into fall. The name says it all, as the recipe is a mix of dry vermouth and crème de cassis (crème de cassis is a sweet black currant liqueur). The V-C is best served over ice and topped with club soda—easy to make and delightful to sip. It is a wonderful alternative to stronger drinks—like a whiskey sour—and is just as refreshing as a gin and tonic. It's also an excellent dinner drink that can take you from aperitif through the entire meal, offering a slightly sweetened, sparkling beverage to enjoy throughout the evening.
 
Crème de cassis is of French origin. It is most often used to sweeten other wines or Champagne such as the all-time favorite Kir Cocktail. Crème de cassis is sweet, but also tart, and this liqueur can be beautifully mixed with white wine, gin, or bourbon, but can also be enjoyed on its own over ice as a digestif.
 
On the other hand, vermouth is a fortified wine that can be either sweet (usually produced in Italy) or dry (usually produced in France)… it’s a beautiful addition to anyone’s back bar. Vermouth makes wonderful martinis and negronis, but it can also be enjoyed as a tasty aperitif, on the rocks, or with a splash of soda water. Unlike distilled spirits, fortified wines have a short shelf life of just a few months—an open bottle will begin to go stale and should be replaced several times a year.
 
Don’t let crème de cassis be an afterthought. Look for top-shelf options like those from Giffard, Gabriel Boudier and Lejay, all of which produce authentic French cassis.
 
Prep time:  3 minutes
Yield:  1 cocktail
 
Ingredients 
Ice
2 to 3 ounces dry vermouth, your taste
3/4 ounce crème de cassis
3 ounces club soda, or to taste (tonic works as well)
1 strip of twisted lemon peel

Directions

1. In an iced Collins glass, pour the dry vermouth and crème de cassis over the rocks.
2. Stir well.
3. Fill the glass with club soda and stir again.
4. Garnish with a twisted lemon peel.
5. Serve and enjoy.

Note: Some drinkers prefer to leave the vermouth cassis unstirred. It produces a layered cocktail like the original tequila sunrise which used crème de cassis. This allowed the drinker to stir with a straw themselves—it’s just a matter of taste.

ChefSecret: This drink can easily be customized to suit your personal taste. Pour as much vermouth as you'd like—some recipes use up to 4 ounces—and sweeten it with crème de cassis as you see fit.

Quip of the Day: “Without the freedom of speech in the United States we would never know who the idiots are.”
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