Salivating curiosities
An upcoming trip to Vermouth country leads to reminiscing about my former flight attendant years
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In today’s newsletter, I talk about:
Imminent trip to Vermouth country
Memories from my flight attendant trips to Brighton, England in the mid-1990s
A link to my gift shop ClaudetteCreativeDesigns.com
I stumbled across an interesting fact about an alcoholic beverage while researching some tidbits for an upcoming trip.
Considering I do not know what Vermouth tastes like by itself, I surprised myself by taking an interest in this fortified wine.
But there is a very good reason why my interest in this tasty concoction piqued; I will be traveling to the birthplace of Vermouth in the coming weeks.
What is Vermouth
A common misconception about Vermouth is that it is a spirit. In fact, Vermouth is a wine fortified with herbs and spices and has a slightly high alcohol content when compared to non-fortified wines.
Popular examples of fortified wines (with alcohol) are Port, Sherry and, as mentioned, Vermouth (among others).
Types of Vermouth
There are two types of Vermouth: dry and sweet.
Dry Vermouth originates from France and is used in Martinis.
Sweet Vermouth originates from Italy and is used in cocktails like Negronis and Manhattens.
Both dry and sweet Vermouth can be used as aperitifs, to whet your appetite prior to a meal.
History of Vermouth
My interest in Vermouth was born out of an intense curiosity about Turin, the capital city of Piedmont in northern Italy. Vermouth is mentioned in every source I clicked on about this fascinating city.
According to one source, sweet Vermouth was derived from an ancient Roman recipe by Antonio Benedetto Carpano of Turin in 1786. But it took some years for France to develop dry Vermouth; Joseph Noilly of France produced the highly coveted Martini ingredient in 1813.
Further research into this herb-infused bitter wine with the strange name lead me to learn that Vermouth was traditionally used for medicinal purposes. It wasn’t until the late 18th century when modern versions of the beverage were produced and served in fashionable cafés in Turin.
Etymology
Another interesting fact I came cross is that the name Vermouth is the French pronunciation of the German word Wermut which translates to wormwood in English.
I keep a bottle of wormwood drops in my home to use every so often when I feel I might have some digestive issues. It was (and still is in alternative medicine circles) used to treat pinworm or roundworm in children.
Wormwood is considered a bitter herb with anti-parasitic properties.
It is said that fortified wines containing wormwood as a principal ingredient existed in Germany as far back as the 16th century, used to treat stomach and intestinal problems.
Tip: if you enjoy sushi or highly processed food, it might be wise to give yourself a treatment of wormwood drops occasionally. I do a course three times a day for a week to keep the parasites at bay after eating certain foods.*
*I follow the advice of my natural health care professionals; this is not information I pull out of thin air.
Vermouth producers
I read up on key producers of sweet Vermouth and came across the names Cinzano and Campari, both which are familiar to me since my Italian father always had the bright redish-brown liquid stored in the door of the refrigerator. He sometimes offered a glass to a Beligan family member with a splash of soda (if memory serves correctly), with ice and a slice of lemon. I was intrigued but not of drinking age at the time. My dad allowed me to sniff the drink and I found it bitter.
Upon reflection, the two Vermouth labels swirled around my head: Campari and Cinzano. Which type did my father own? And which colour? There are red and white varieties. If memory serves, he had both names and both colours stored in bottom section of the fridge door.
Further research divulged that Cinzano, the Italian brand of Vermouth is owned by Gruppo Campari; they merged in 1999.
All this talk makes me want to taste cocktails made with Vermouth, specifically the sweet Italian version since I will be in the Turin region later this spring.
So, on my next trip to the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Canada) I checked out the various Vermouth bottles available at my local store. I came across an array of Vermouth producers and saw bottles of Cinzano but not Campari. A small bottle of sweet Vermouth with the Italian and Swiss crests in its label caught my eye - it turns out that one was imported from Spain. The crests indicated the Spaniards followed an original recipe located from a producer at the Switzerland/Italian border. Interesting.
Below the spanish Vermouth bottles I saw these bottles from Torino (Turin).
Crazy prices. Sadly, I left the store empty handed but made a mental note to come back, or perhaps visit another store to compare labels and prices.
Stay tuned. I’ll be sure to report my findings in my Stirred section of this newsletter.
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Imminent trip
My imminent trip to Europe has my entire family buzzing with preparation and excitement. The last time I was on a plane was in early summer of 2019 just prior to the world wide pandemic. We took the kids to Switzerland to introduce them to my side of the family and I showed them my former stomping grounds.
Prior to that trip I spent all my free time at hockey rinks; there was little time and even less money to devote to airfare. Our vacations were local or youth sports tournaments. :)
Through be told, I didn’t miss air travel too much during my parenting stint as I used to be a flight attendant in my early adulthood. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m not sure I’d want to do this sort of thing full-time today. The jetlag alone would probably kill me.
Through the eyes of a flight attendant
Being I am no stranger to air travel, I look forward to this upcoming trip in different ways than I used to when I was younger and less encumbered by life’s baggage. I became a flight attendant straight out of University in the mid-90s; there was no internet, no email, no smartphones and no laptops. I traveled to a few places across the UK and France (Paris, Toulouse) but save a few short day-trips, I didn’t really take advantage of the nearby tourist attractions I was exposed to.
A favorite destination was Brighton, just outside of London, England. I spent two summers enjoying this coastal town’s cultures and sights.
Metropole Hotel
We stayed at the Metropole Hotel (now DoubleTree by Hilton) on the banks of the English Channel in Brighton, England which was a favorite place to hang out in the summer months.
I absolutely adored the hotel’s interior design. They must have renovated it when Hilton took over because all the pictures I searched up on the internet for his article no longer feature the decor I remember. I think I may have taken some pictures but I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for them. (Stay tuned, I may come across them and it may unleash a whole new series of flight attendant related articles for this publication.)
I do remember feeling very at home in the old-fashioned rooms decorated with flowery wallpaper, water closets (toilets with the tank mounted to the wall high above my head - to flush, I had to pull a string), tall ceilings and ornate dining rooms where my friend and I would treat ourselves to afternoon teas with little cucumber sandwiches.
As I browsed the photos online I saw how modern this hotel has become. A lot of the English charm seemed to have disappeared.
Royal Pavilion
There were a few tourist attractions in the Brighton area near our hotel. One was the Royal Pavilion (also known as Brighton Pavilion) which sadly I never made time to visit at the time. We just walked around the grounds a little and marveled at the exuberance that is the monarchy in that country.
Fun fact: It is said that Queen Victoria disliked Brighton and the lack of privacy at the Pavilion, particularly since coastal Brighton became accessible to Londoners by rail in 1841. Suddenly, the sleepy village became an attraction to the masses which resulted in Queen Victoria to remark that “the people here are very indiscreet and troublesome”. (source)
In 1850 the Queen sold it to Brighton Town commissioners. Under civic ownership, the Pavilion changed from private residence to public attraction. It was temporarily used as a military hospital during the World Wars.
Today, it has become a popular tourist attraction and is licensed as a venue for weddings. As a note of its progressiveness, a number of first legal same-sex marriages took place in the Royal Pavilion in 2014. (source)
Palace Pier
The Brighton Palace Pier was established in 1899, the third pier to be constructed in Brighton after the Royal Suspension Chain Pier and the West Pier. It is the only one still in operation. It has turned into an amusement park and is commonly known as a pleasure pier.
A flight attendant friend and I went to the Palace Pier a few times which attracted those from our crew who enjoyed playing games in the popular arcade, but I mostly just watched and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of this lively place. I preferred to window shop in the nearby little market area behind the hotel over the activities on the pier. There was, if memory serves, a second pier which looked like it had burnt down and was left to rot further down the beach.
Upcoming trip
Thinking back to my transatlantic trips as a flight attendant in the mid-90s, I wonder how I would handle traveling professionally today as an adult with life experience. My flying days were before 9/11; many things changed in the airline industry since that fateful day.
Travel today, especially for leisure, is very different mainly because the smartphone technology allows for all sorts of immediate answers to endless questions at the click of a button. With information at my finger tips I don’t even need to plan ahead extensively, and I can easily check distances, transportation schedules, activities, weather and local cuisine in a matter of minutes.
I look forward to this trip in April; although it’s an extended family trip (without my kids present, they have school obligations), the purpose is to explore an area in northern Italy where my maternal side of the family believes their paternal side of the family stems from.
Do you understand this? My mother’s grandfather or great-grandfather (?) and their ancestors are believed to have come from the Piedmont region (unless I’m getting that wrong - stay tuned as I explore deeper into this fascinating region and history).
A stopover in Switzerland
The plan so far is to fly into Zurich in Switzerland where we will stay with family to overcome jetlag.
A few days later, we are scheduled to take a scenic train journey to Milan in northern Italy where we will change trains to take us to Turin, the capital city of Piedmont (also known as Vermouth country). This will happen on the day my mom celebrates her 80th birthday. From Turin, a car trip will take us to a town called Aosta where we will dwell for a week with extended family at a rented house my sister organized.
I expect to take a lot of pictures, eat and drink local cuisine, hike the area, and totally immerse myself in the experience.
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Very interesting! I will try some vermouth just because you make it sound so interesting.
Have a wonderful trip! Will be waiting for awesome pics and funny stories!
Oh how interesting - I visited a friend in Barcelona and all they drank over there was Vermouth. So I just assumed it was something Spanish. Living in Milan I should've recognized the Campari taste, I guess!