13 Best Sweet Vermouth Cocktails

Sour Cherry Negroni Cocktail Recipe — Photo:
Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Lucy Simon

It's hard to overestimate how much opportunity lives within just one bottle of vermouth. You can make a two-ingredient spritz with club soda to signal the end of a long workday, whip up a delicious pan sauce for scallops, or make a perfect weeknight mushroom risotto. This aromatized, fortified wine can be dry (white) or sweet (red), a distinction that you'll need to pay close attention to when you're in the kitchen, or behind the bar. For bottles in the latter category, we prefer to stir up riffs on the classic Negroni, like this delightfully tart Sour Cherry Negroni from Hawksmoor's New York City outpost, or the viral Negroni Sbagliato, as popularized by Emma D'Arcy from HBO's House of Dragons. Read on for 13 of our favorite cocktails that call for sweet vermouth.

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Guava Ponche with Sweet Vermouth

Ponche Navideño is a Christmastime spiced tropical fruit punch that's served warm with a shot of tequila in Mexico. Food & Wine Cooks contributor Paola Briseño González's chilled riff on this holiday classic pays homage to her love of vermouth. Light and fragrant with perfectly balanced bitterness, it's refreshing and bright thanks to hibiscus, guava, apples, and mint.

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Negroni Sbagliato

HBO's House of the Dragon star Emma D'Arcy brought the Negroni Sbagliato in the spotlight, and we can't stop drinking them.

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Manhattan

According to popular legend, this cocktail was created at the Manhattan Club in 1874, at a party given by Winston Churchill's American mother to celebrate Samuel J. Tilden's election as governor of New York.

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Northern Standard

This drink is even better a Manhattan, thanks to three different bitter elements. Created by mixologist James Ives, the Northern Standard is a full-flavored cocktail that uses Knob Creek rye aged in charred barrels to balance out the richness of Carpano. It's as equally strong as it is smooth.

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Mezcal Negroni

This riff on the classic gin and Campari cocktail has an earthy richness courtesy of smoky mezcal. Carpano Antica Formula vermouth is full-bodied and flavored with herbs and spices, lending dry, barely sweet flavor to this Negroni. Cocchi Americano and a generous citrus garnish bring a light, citrusy bite.

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Americano

Three ingredients make for bittersweet magic in this classic, low alcohol cocktail.

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Sour Cherry Negroni

This tart twist on a classic Negroni is true to the spirit of Hawksmoor's buzzy NYC outpost.

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Negroni

Despite the Negroni's endless capacity for shape-shifting, this recipe is for the most classic version of the cocktail — think of it an ode to its comforting simplicity. Made with vibrant red Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin, the drink is balanced with a combination earthy, bitter, and botanical flavors.

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Savonarola

This drink is named for a 15th-century Italian monk who was hanged for preaching against the excesses of Renaissance life. It's made with Italian vermouth and Frangelico, which comes in a bottle shaped like a monk.

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Mr. J

Mr. J — Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Port-finished Scotch blends with coffee and chocolate in this fireside-ready cocktail.

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Rum and Orange Cocktail

Amaro Montenegro, an Italian digestif, brings strong flavors of orange to this pleasantly bitter cocktail. The drink starts out warm, with light, molasses-y sweetness coming through the first sip, but packs a pleasantly bitter bite. It's a touch smoky and delightfully strong. Finish it with a dash of grapefruit bitters, and garnish with a grapefruit peel twist.

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