Used for both cocktails and cooking, let’s find out the difference between sherry and vermouth.
- Sherry: a fortified, amber-colored wine of southern Spain or any of various similar wines made elsewhere.
- Vermouth: an aromatized white wine in which herbs, roots, barks, bitters, and other flavorings have been steeped.
Both sherry and vermouth are fortified wines.
- Fortified wine: a wine, as port or sherry, to which brandy has been added in order to arrest fermentation or to increase the alcoholic content.
Sherry:
- Originated in southern Spain.
- Can be served before dinner in small glasses.*
- Can be added to sauces, soups, and desserts.
- Is made from grapes.
- Comes in different varieties, varying in color, taste, and sweetness.
*Like Fraiser and Niles!
Vermouth:
- Name comes from German word for wormwood.
- Is a key ingredient in many cocktails, such as the Manhattan.
- Can also be used to give a kick to sauces, especially those accompanying seafood.
- Flavored with many herbs, flowers, seeds, etc.
- Is divided into dry vermouth and sweet vermouth.
Sweet vermouth is typically more red in color, but can be clear or white; the color of dry vermouth is akin to pale straw.
The difference between sweet and dry vermouth could probably lend to it’s own Difference Between; both are used for various cocktail and food recipes.
In conclusion, sherry and vermouth are fortified wines often used in cooking. While sherry is more of a drink in and of itself, vermouth is more often used as an ingredient in other cocktails (although can be enjoyed straight up). And, vermouth has a lot more flavorings added to it than sherry, which is basically grapes.