Vermouth: Vermouth is an aromatized fortified wine, flavoured with various botanicals (roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, and spices) and sometimes colored. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced in the mid to late 18th century in Turin, Italy. While vermouth was traditionally used for medicinal purposes, it was later served as an apéritif, with fashionable cafés in Turin serving it to guests around the clock. In the late 19th century, it became popular with bartenders as a key ingredient for cocktails, such as the martini, the Manhattan, the Rob Roy, and the Negroni. In addition to being consumed as an apéritif or cocktail ingredient, vermouth is sometimes used as an alternative to white wine in cooking. Historically, there have been two main types of vermouth: sweet and dry. Responding to demand and competition, vermouth manufacturers have created additional styles, including extra-dry white, sweet white (blanc or bianco), red (rosso), amber (ambre), and rosé. Vermouth is produced by starting with a base of neutral grape wine or unfermented wine must. Each manufacturer adds additional alcohol and a proprietary mixture of dry ingredients, consisting of aromatic herbs, roots, and barks, to the base wine, base wine plus spirit, or spirit only – which may be redistilled before adding to the wine or unfermented wine must. After the wine is aromatized and fortified, the vermouth is sweetened with either cane sugar or caramelized sugar, depending on the style. Italian and French companies produce most of the vermouth consumed throughout the world.
Plymouth: Plymouth Gin is a style and brand of gin that has been distilled on the same premises on the Barbican in Plymouth, Devon, since 1793. The site of production, the Plymouth Gin Distillery, was built in 1431 and is reputed to have once been a monastery of the Dominican Order. For this reason, it has traditionally been known as the "Blackfriars Distillery", and this name appears embossed on the gin bottles. The taste profile of the style has been described as "earthy", less dry and featuring more citrus notes than the London Dry Gin-style, of which Plymouth Gin is considered an offshoot, or subtype. Plymouth Gin was the only spirit made in England, and one of only three gins in the world, that carried a geographical indication (GI) designation with the European Union, certifying its traditional origin. In 2015, the distillery's owners declined to pursue renewal of the GI, considering its protection was unneeded. This leaves only Gin de Mahón from Spain and Vilniaus Džinas (Vilnius gin) from Lithuania to carry GI status. Plymouth was the favorite gin of legendary film directors Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, as well as the American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.