Hammer & Tongs L'Afrique Vermouth Rouge

Perhaps one of the most complex beverages humankind has aspired to, vermouth represents an evolutionary step in our culture where ancient herbal medicines, became contemporary cocktail and culinary habits. Preserving the value of botanicals as medicines (beyond their use as fresh or even dried ingredients in foods), became exceedingly more prevalent with the spread of distillation. Alcoholic tinctures and tonics that were prescribed by an apothecary as daily draughts and common curatives, evolved into the restoratives, bracers and pick- me- ups that are the beverages now consumed at Aperitif gatherings (in Europe) and Happy Hour congregations in the US. While the outward rationalization of why we drink these beverages has evolved as much as the tonics themselves, inwardly we may recognize that on one level or another, they make us feel better, if only temporarily.

The craft of a black smith is basically to harness great energy for the purpose of refashioning raw elements into a refined piece of work that is both durable and useful. In order to produce these works of refinement, a forge needed to use quality ingredients and the smith had to apply his/her efforts with great energy and determination. And much in the way that an apothecary might have concocted a refined, medicinal tincture that was both durable (preserved in ethanol) and useful (it’s healing properties), it is only with great energy and determination that naturally pure ingredients are forged into works as refined as our Hammer & Tongs Vermouths.