Cocchi in place of dry vermouth

[pto]

For whatever reason, Ive found that I much prefer Cocchi Americano in place of dry vermouth in almost every recipe Ive tried(Martini, 20th century, Ford cocktail, Scofflaw, etc). The other day, I made a martini for a friend, not telling him about the substitution(2.5 Beefeaters, .5 Cocchi, stirred). He said, unsolicited, it was the best Martini he'd ever had. Btw, the only dry vermouth avalable where I live is Cinzanno and M&R.  Also, how does Bianco compare to Cocchi, is its 1/3 the price.

 

How much of a crime is it to use Cocchi instead of dry vermouth?

[Adam George]

Sugar does tend to make everything taste "better"

It's no crime, if you enjoy it.

Bianco is a much lighter and more fragrant style,typically. Sweeter, too. Very unlike Americano, though, which is more honeyed and fruity.

Get a bottle. Make sure you invest I. A wine vacuum sealer, though.

[brinza]

Cocchi is certainly wonderful stuff.  I tend to sub it for Lillet (such as in a Vesper) when I'm out of Lillet, but I don't think I've tried in place of vermouth in the ways suggested.  Using it in a Scofflaw sounds very intriguing, though.

[Adam George]

Four out of seven could accurately identify the aged sample.

That's not a good result.

[Yojimbo]

For whatever reason, Ive found that I much prefer Cocchi Americano in place of dry vermouth in almost every recipe Ive tried(Martini, 20th century, Ford cocktail, Scofflaw, etc). The other day, I made a martini for a friend, not telling him about the substitution(2.5 Beefeaters, .5 Cocchi, stirred). He said, unsolicited, it was the best Martini he'd ever had. Btw, the only dry vermouth avalable where I live is Cinzanno and M&R.  Also, how does Bianco compare to Cocchi, is its 1/3 the price.

 

How much of a crime is it to use Cocchi instead of dry vermouth?

Funny, I've also been playing around with my bottle of Cocchi lately, along the lines of white Negronis, pink Negronis (subbing Cappelletti back in for Campari but keeping the Cocchi in for the Lillet), etc.  I do find too much Cocchi and the orange/honey profile takes over everything else, I'd be curious to hear people's experience with the Bianco.

 

If you really enjoy your Cocchi Martini variation, do NOT under any circumstances score a bottle of Dolin Dry, do NOT make the Martini 2-1, and do NOT add a dash or two of orange bitters to the result.  Just don't do it.

[Adam George]

Dolin Dry,... make the Martini 2-1,...add a dash or two of orange bitters to the result.

I must have been making my martinis wrong.... Whoops.

[pto]

Retried taking much better care of my dry vermouth ie. refrigerating it and the result is definitely better tasting martinis with dry vermouth. Before,

i had been pretty lax about keeping the vermouth in the fridge and seems like it took on a more sour character pretty quickly. I do still quite enjoy the Cocchi Americano variation though, it doesn't seem THAT much sweeter, but more like "brighter".

[Yojimbo]

I must have been making my martinis wrong.... Whoops.

Adam, far be it for me to suggest anything remotely close to the concept of the single, sole "right" way to mix a martini!

 

As a fellow Cocchi fan, though, I thought I'd through out my go-to recipe for pto to try, with the notion that he might be willing to add the trad version to his personal pantheon of martini variants.  Let a thousand Martinis chill!