London has a new vermouth company just in time for summer
London now has its own vermouth label, producing three very Home Counties vermouths.
The new London Vermouth Company, set up by three life-long friends – Guy Abrahams, Andrew Wealls and Ben Leask – worked with recipe and drinks developer Camille Hobby Limon to produce their No.1 Amber Limon and No.2 Camille’s Red vermouths.
The No.3 SE Dry, meanwhile, is the creation of 2013 Masterchef: The Professionals champion and “flavour maker” Steven Edwards, who runs the Etch Restaurant on the south coast and Bingham Riverhouse in Richmond.
“My favourite is to drink our Amber Limon in an Amber Negroni or the No.2 Camille’s Red in a Martinez,” says LVC co-founder Ben Leask, former food and beverage director for Hotel Chocolat.
The No.3 SE Dry is made with “a South Downs Bacchus, five simple botanicals, Hampshire Bramleys, Essex gooseberries and Dulwich honey”.
It is described as “a mouth-watering thirst-quenching delight that you’ll finish rather quicker than you should.”
LVC’s vermouths can be enjoyed by themselves – neat with ice – with a mixer or in a cocktail. It’s ideal for a reverse martini – two parts vermouth to one part gin – according to Wealls, who spent eight years on Brighton and Hove City Council. He also worked for Barclay Global Investors.
Favour maestro Camille works for INTUNE making sparkling fruit and botanic drinks with CBD and is the former managing owner of Islington’s Charles Lamb pub.