Cocktails with Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
Carpano Antica Formula is a branded Italian sweet (rosso) vermouth, an aromatized, fortified wine flavored with Artemisia and botanicals from a historic Carpano recipe.
ABV16.5%
Substitutes for Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
Another rich sweet vermouth works one for one. Cocchi Vermouth di Torino is the closest. It is a little sweeter, about 214 g of sugar per liter against Antica's 170, so ease off any syrup. Martini Rosso or Dolin Rouge also go one for one but are lighter and drier, at about 153 and 130 g of sugar per liter. They lack Antica's vanilla. Punt e Mes also goes one for one but adds a bitter edge.
Pale and low in sugar where Antica is dark and sweet. One for one, the drink comes out drier and thinner; a barspoon of rich syrup softens it.
On the label
- “vermouth”
- A legal category, not a style word. At least 75% of the bottle must be wine, it has to be flavored with at least one Artemisia — wormwood — herb, and it must sit between 14.5% and 22% ABV. Drop the wormwood and it is an aromatized wine, not a vermouth.
Storage
It oxidizes once opened. Refrigerate and use it within six weeks, or the aromatics fade.
