Taste the Seasons in a Glass with Matchbook Distilling Co.
Stocking the bar this Spring and Summer? Don’t forget the Vermouth, and make sure it’s American-made!
As Food & Wine magazine noted, Vermouth is not only underrated; it’s also very versatile as well as being affordable. An essential ingredient in Martinis, Manhattans, and Negronis, it can also be enjoyed neat—chilled, and on the rocks.
While the classic styles of vermouth are sweet (red) and dry (white), you can also find extra-dry white, sweet white (blanc or bianco), amber, and rosé vermouths, expanding the options beyond the two traditional types.
Most vermouths are European, with Italy and France being the primary producers, known for their traditional styles. But the craft cocktail movement has inspired new interest in vermouth, with some new producers emerging in the United States, exploring often non-traditional styles and showcasing American wine and botanicals.
Matchbook Distilling Co. is an American distillery located in Greenport, New York on the North Fork of Long Island. Launched in 2018 by Leslie Merinoff-Kwasnieski, Brian Kwasnieski, and Paul Monahan, Matchbook flourished into research and development during the pandemic, exploring fermentation, process, and agriculture. Matchbook believes in working in rhythm with nature, farming, and harvest, and that the resulting spirits should capture the peak aromatic moment in a plant or flower’s life, affording a sense of place and season that can be tasted in the bottle.
Eldest Daughter Vermouth
Made from biodynamic white wine and eau de vie and infused with local fresh elderflowers from North Fork, Eldest Daughter Vermouth is sweet, spicy, and aromatic. There are notes of green apples and unripe pears and a cornucopia of savory green notes like vegetable vines and bay leaves. But you may catch whispers of other things, like overripe pineapple, crushed peppercorn, tomato vine, and bay leaf. It tastes like a basket full of summer’s bounty but finishes dry.
Crafting Process
It starts with biodynamically grown and certified Pinot Gris from Oregon.
“We began by fermenting the juice to wine and distilling half of it to an Eau-de-Vie. Freshly picked elderflowers from Briermere were shuttled to the distillery, where I spent a Sunday meticulously separating petals from stems and stirring them into the spirit. The fragrance of elderflowers filled the air, melting into the Pinot Gris eau de vie,” says Leslie Merinoff.
“After just a few days, we strained the potent elderflower tincture into the vermouth and began the wait. Over about 20 months, the vermouth evolved. Initially, it burst with pineapple, melon, honeysuckle, and elderflower… reminiscent of the greenhouse Hortus Botanicus, built in 1590 to house the world’s healing botanicals and explore the world of exotic fruit and flower cultivations. This greenhouse is ornate, made of steel framed glass window panes. The personality of this vermouth is beginning to reveal itself.”
Why Elderflowers?
“In June 2023, Briermere Farms notified us of their flourishing elderflower trees,” says Merinoff. “They harvested a truckload of stems at dawn and we shuttled them over to the distillery where we added them to the Pinot Gris Eau-de-Vie. The infusion was intoxicating. We blended into the wine days later. Then, weeks later, the flavor shifted to a dominant apple note. All we could smell and taste for months was single note, grocery store apples. I decided to give it space. A lot of space. For the next 6 months we barely disturbed it but continued to honor it with prime real estate inside a temperature-controlled, stainless steel tank.”
Adding Complexity
“Everything changed with the arrival of Timur Peppercorn from Rare Tea Cellar,” says Merinoff. “This botanical caught me so off guard. To open a sealed bag of Timur (aka Timut) Peppercorn is to be transported to a grapefruit grove. It just envelopes you with the aromas of the fruit and its flowers and its bark all at once. I immediately think of Tank number 5 holding the elderflower vermouth.
“It’s March 2024. I open the tank and pull out a taste. The apple is gone. The Greenhouse is back! I add the peppercorn. Scotty adds a bit of sugar. We let it integrate. A week later we taste again. It was a rush. It was a slow walk through Hortus Botanicus one again. The elderflower. The pineapple. The melon. The geranium. Eldest Daughter Vermouth was ready.
The Label and Bottle
“The label design is the work of Lindsay Kate, an artist we met at LA favorite All Day Baby in Silver Lake. Lindsay’s first project with us was the popular Double Dutch label, and she’s back with Eldest Daughter. We bottled it in a mix of brown and green wine bottles we had on hand, capturing the essence of elegance in simplicity. Eldest Daughter lives on the coast, surrounded by farms, and ventures to the city on weekends. Lindsay and the bottling team beautifully captured this spirit.”
How to Enjoy
This vermouth (19% alc. by vol.) is best enjoyed in the warmer months on the rocks or for a thirst-quenching aperitif try topping 2oz of Eldest Daughter Vermouth with tonic, seltzer, or perhaps even some grapefruit soda.
You can also substitute it for the traditional vermouth you might use in class sic cocktails. Try making a Dirty Elderflower Martini using 2oz gin or vodka, 1oz Eldest Daughter Vermouth, express some citrus peel like grapefruit or lemon, and drop in a green olive.
Eldest Daughter Vermouth tastes like Summer, but we can also see ourselves siping it in Fall and Winter, neat and room temperature by a roaring fireplace.
Shop Eldest Daughter Vermouth and other spirits by Matchbook here.
