Noilly Prat
The French dry vermouth aged outdoors in sea air for a year, giving the Dry Martini its backbone. Everything about the alcohol percentage, how to use it and the glass it belongs in.
A year outdoors in the wind and sea air
Vermouth is flavored wine: wine to which alcohol, herbs and wormwood have been added. Noilly Prat has been made in Marseillan, on the Étang de Thau in Languedoc, since 1813, using a process unlike anything seen in any other vermouth. After barrel aging, the picpoul and clairette base wines spend a year outdoors in oak barrels exposed to the sun, wind and sea air in a courtyard.
That outdoor aging, the enclos, gives the wine a light oxidation and a salty, nutty note that you taste as soon as you open the bottle. Then mistelle and an infusion of twenty herbs and spices are added, including chamomile, coriander and bitter orange peel. The result is an 18% dry vermouth that is used just as much in the kitchen as at the bar.
In brief
Noilly Prat and other vermouths
Here we have Noilly Prat Original Dry. These bottles play the same role at the bar, but are sweeter or a completely different style.
Noilly Prat Original Dry
The classic dry vermouth: salty, nutty and infused with chamomile. Essential in a Dry Martini and the standard choice for fish in cooking.
Martini Bianco
The sweet white vermouth from Turin, with vanilla and herbs. Where Noilly Prat is dry and salty, this one is round and sweet.
Beek Vermouth di Torino
Vermouth according to the Turin tradition, with wormwood and herbs. Fuller and more bitter than standard Italian bottles.
Lillet Blanc
Not a vermouth but a quinquina: Bordeaux wine with citrus liqueur and quinine. Fruitier and more floral, and the standard choice in a Vesper Martini.
Noilly Prat if you want to make a Dry Martini; Bianco if you drink your vermouth straight.
Dry, salty and surprisingly complex
Herbs & sea air
Chamomile, dried herbs and citrus peel, with a salty note underneath that comes directly from the outdoor aging.
Dry and nutty
Dry, with notes of nuts, chamomile and a slight bitterness from the wormwood. Much more body than you would expect from an 18% vermouth.
Salty and slightly bitter
A dry, salty finish with a bitter edge. Exactly what keeps a Dry Martini sharp.
Flavor profile of Noilly Prat Original Dry. Martini Bianco scores considerably higher on sweetness; Lillet Blanc higher on fruitiness.
Three ways to use Noilly Prat
Vermouth is wine, so it is perishable. Store the bottle in the refrigerator after opening and use it within a month or two.
In the Dry Martini
Stir 60 ml gin and 10 ml Noilly Prat with plenty of ice for thirty seconds, strain into an ice-cold martini glass and finish with a strip of lemon peel. If you want it wetter, use 15 or 20 ml vermouth: with this bottle, that is no hardship.
Dry Martini recipe →Straight over ice
6 cl over plenty of ice in a wine glass, with a strip of lemon peel or an olive. In France, this is a very common aperitif, and at 18% it is considerably lighter than most drinks.
Glass: wine glass →In the kitchen
A splash in the pan with fish, mussels or a cream sauce, instead of white wine. The herbs and slight oxidation add a depth that ordinary wine does not have. That is why the bottle sits next to the stove in many kitchens.
More about storage →The best cocktails with Noilly Prat
Dry Martini
Gin and dry vermouth, stirred and ice-cold. Here, the vermouth really matters.
Dirty Martini
Dry Martini with a splash of olive brine. The saltiness of Noilly Prat works well with it.
Vesper Martini
Gin, vodka and Lillet Blanc. With dry vermouth, it becomes a sharper variation.
Dry Manhattan
Manhattan with dry instead of red vermouth: drier and fresher.The right glass for vermouth
An ice-cold martini glass for the Dry Martini, and a wine glass filled with plenty of ice if you drink it neat. These are the glasses we recommend ourselves.
Everything else you wanted to know about Noilly Prat
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