596845 Tue Feb 17 05:51:06 -0800 2009 35 12 Boston Area 0 4424096 A recent thread on pending changes to the formula for the U.S.A.-bound version of Noilly Prat http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/596078 got me to thinking: where can I buy Dolin vermouth around Boston? I've sampled it in a few cocktails over at Drink and quite like it: they have both the dry and blanc versions (and I imagine the rouge, too). I'm also always on the lookout for Carpano Antica Formula, but know that's not distributed locally yet. Still looking for online sources that will ship to Boston. Tue Feb 17 05:51:06 -0800 2009 10143 MC Slim JB 1 4424156 MC, The only one I can think of trying is Martignetti's. If the don't have it, they may be able to get it for you. Good Luck, CocoDan Tue Feb 17 06:20:32 -0800 2009 4424096 12643 CocoDan 1 4424254 Dolin is handled by Ideal Ideal Wine & Spirits Company P:781.395.3300 You could probably call them and find out which retailers are carrying it. I've heard that Brix has it, but haven't confirmed that first hand. Cheers! Tue Feb 17 07:00:21 -0800 2009 4424096 218804 lantheaume 1 4424259 The only way I know of to get Carpano Antica is to make a trip to NYC or have someone bring it back for you. It's the way Drink, Craigie, and Eastern have been getting theirs. We're also curious about Dolin. I know some bars around do have it but we have not spotted it in stores. Also from the same distributer, we're looking for Hayman's Old Tom gin. We'll have to make a trip out to Marty's in Newtonville soon (they're often the first to get these sort of things). Tue Feb 17 07:01:58 -0800 2009 4424096 256764 yarm 2 4424266 Last I looked at Craigie, Tom was concocting an erstaz version of Antica (a really good simulacrum, I thought.) He did relate a story about bringing a case back from NYC on the Amtrak for ESK. Brix is in the neighborhood, so I'll check in there. Tue Feb 17 07:04:32 -0800 2009 4424259 10143 MC Slim JB 3 4424538 Tommy still has bottles of Antica. Or at least he had them at his vermouth class (where we also got to watch him make a batch of his replica) a few weeks ago. I know that Eastern did get some bottles when Kevin came back from his exchange program stint at Please Don't Tell. Tue Feb 17 08:16:34 -0800 2009 4424266 256764 yarm 2 4424591 Brix has Hayman's Old Tom too, I think at both the South End and Broad St. locations. Fixed my first homemade Old Tom cocktail with it a few nights ago: a Martinez with Hayman's and the Dolin sweet vermouth. Splendid. Come to think of it, my inaugural drink @ Drink was a Hayman's-based Collins. It really is worth picking up a bottle to try Old Tom in just about every canonical recipe you can put it in. Still waiting to make a Ramos with it; supposedly it elevates the drink to another level. Tue Feb 17 08:30:14 -0800 2009 4424259 119042 AbeFroman 1 4424561 Brix South End indeed carries both the Dolin Dry and Rouge (sweet). They're fantastic, and a relative bargain when sitting on the shelf next to Vya. Both are $15 per 750 ml, though I think there may be smaller format bottles (375ml) being rolled out too. The Dolin sweet has even (momentarily) dulled my desire to go to ridiculous lengths for a bottle of Carpano Antica. Same for the Dolin Dry and the reformulated N.P. However, Slim, you best post right here when you find out the cheapest way to get either of those to Boston. Who wants in on a case? Tue Feb 17 08:22:27 -0800 2009 4424096 119042 AbeFroman 1 4424687 Slim, I was recently shocked to find a pretty decent stock of Dolin Rouge at Marty's in Allston. It was $9 for 750 ml! It looks as though it may be an older bottling, perhaps some stock they had sitting around from some time when it used to be distributed in the US. Anyway, I also found some RinQuinQuin there, a peach-flavored quinquina (French quinine based aperitif). I purchased some Carpano Antico and some Dolin dry (current Haus Alpens-distributed bottling) on a trip to NYC over the weekend. I just love lugging bottles of booze in my luggage on the bus... Tue Feb 17 08:51:56 -0800 2009 4424096 243219 craigasaurus 2 4425177 RinQuinQuin is definitely worth picking up! Two drinks we've made with it are a Peach Martinez [1] and a RinQuinQuin Martini [2] [1] http://frederic.livejournal.com/186827.html [2] http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2008/10/grapefruit-bitters.html Tue Feb 17 10:39:43 -0800 2009 4424687 256764 yarm 3 4431200 I know, I was surprised to find it in Boston. And it was $10! How could I pass it up? I've been tinkering, and came up with a pretty cool Negroni variation: build 3/4 oz. each dry gin, Cynar, Sweet Vermouth, and RinQuinQuin, a few shakes of orange bitters, stir, add ice and an orange twist. Wed Feb 18 23:29:03 -0800 2009 4425177 243219 craigasaurus 1 4424695 On a side note, I kind of dig the new/old Noilly Tue Feb 17 08:53:30 -0800 2009 4424096 243219 craigasaurus 1 4433117 Thanks for the tip, craigasaurus: Marty's in Allston indeed has the Dolin Rouge with its older-design label, now $10. Cool! A collecta's item. Thu Feb 19 13:10:54 -0800 2009 4424096 10143 MC Slim JB 2 4443474 Slim, do you know if there is any difference btw. the old and new label versions? I bought it for drinking, but haven't opened it yet... Should I hold on to it, and maybe try to find a bottle from the current crop to drink? Mon Feb 23 07:54:29 -0800 2009 4433117 243219 craigasaurus 3 4443559 Nothing I've read suggests a new formula, and it's worth noting that they have an appellation d’origine contrôlée to protect, so any reformulation would not be undertaken lightly. But I can't say for certain. My guess is that this is simply a new label design. Mon Feb 23 08:19:09 -0800 2009 4443474 10143 MC Slim JB 4 4450629 Ah,. thank you. I suppose I could buy one bottle to save, unopened, in case it becomes a collector's item in 50 years. Anyway, have you had any luck tracking down the Alpenz-distributed stuff? Some already mentioned Brix. I did buy the dry on a trip to NYC, but skipped on the blanc. I guess that's my next target... Wed Feb 25 08:18:32 -0800 2009 4443559 243219 craigasaurus 1 4434285 Can you tell me about Dolin vermouth? I am curious. I'll have to try it. Thu Feb 19 19:03:44 -0800 2009 4424096 142853 Alica 2 4434662 Nice little summary here: http://www.europvin.com/index.php?page=EpvLayout&portlet=FactSheet&zone=1&by=1&critere=dolin&fourn=DOLIN In general, vermouth is a handy cocktail ingredient, a gentle way to add some of the herbal complexity of bitters plus some fortified-white-wine flavors. It figures prominently in many of the oldest cocktails from the 19th century, e.g., the Martinez, Martini (said to be derived from the Martinez), Manhattan, Bronx, and many others. As with every ingredient in the current Golden-Age revival movement, bartenders are looking for more options, a broader palette, more artisanal products to work with. Dolin seems a perfect match for this: it's a very small producer with the unusual distinction of an appellation d’origine contrôlée. In addition to the expected dry and sweet styles, it also makes a blanc (what the Italians call bianco, a white vermouth that's sweeter than the dry style), as well as a fourth product, Chamberyzette, flavored with the juice of wild strawberries. It's sold at a very nice price ($10-15/bottle, versus upwards of $25-30 for similar small-producer artisanal vermouths like California's own Vya brand). And it has the added bonus of being very obscure, at least for now. I always have 5 or 6 bottles of sweet, dry, and blanc/bianco vermouths on hand (VacuVin'd in my fridge, as vermouth is low-alcohol enough to spoil over time). I'm a dabbler with cocktails at home, and I like vermouth by itself (on ice with a twist) as an aperitif. So it's exciting to find a brand-new-to-me product on the market. Thu Feb 19 21:51:01 -0800 2009 4434285 10143 MC Slim JB 3 4435055 Many thanks for this interesting thread and excellent links. This will make a difference in my Negroni life. Fri Feb 20 05:50:54 -0800 2009 4434662 162166 whops 4 4435126 The Negroni, one of my favorite cocktails, is a perfect example of the kind of drink to which you can bring wonderful variation through the use of different vermouths without messing with its (sacred, in my book) original proportions. The other variable is gin, of course. I just picked up a bottle of a gin I'd never seen before -- Greylock, a pot-stilled London Dry style from Berkshire Mountain Distillers in Great Barrington, MA -- which I can't wait to try. Probably should go to the Spirits board with this, but since it's a local product, has anyone ever tried it? Fri Feb 20 06:26:23 -0800 2009 4435055 10143 MC Slim JB 1 4437263 I was just over at Charles St Liquors and they must have just started carrying it, I forget the price but it was roughly $10. Fri Feb 20 15:42:16 -0800 2009 4424096 111910 jgg13 1 4443510 None will ship Carpano Antica to Boston, but I am having some shipped to my brother in RI through liquorama. This is ridiculous, we are one of, I think, 5 states that restrict internet liquor sales. Mon Feb 23 08:04:34 -0800 2009 4424096 23376 nsenada 2 4444957 Nothing to do with the Internet as such. I'm pretty sure that MA restricts the purchase of liquor from any out-of-state source, regardless of how it's purchased - Internet, mail order, catalog, whatever. Mon Feb 23 13:56:47 -0800 2009 4443510 14386 BobB 2 4644808 Carpano Antica update - was at Drink last night, and apparently they got four cases (of ten total) that have been shipped into Massachusetts by a distributor (I think) called Atlantic. Fri May 01 05:41:08 -0700 2009 4443510 23376 nsenada 3 4644824 Atlantic = people who run Marty's Fri May 01 05:52:52 -0700 2009 4644808 41832 avial 4 4645997 Just called them to confirm, and I guess it wasn't them bringing it in. Perhaps I misheard. Oh, well. Fri May 01 11:38:28 -0700 2009 4644824 23376 nsenada 1 4481431 FYI, Gordon's in Waltham is carrying the bianco and rouge... $14.99 for 750 ml. Fri Mar 06 19:56:26 -0800 2009 4424096 243219 craigasaurus 1 4554411 The newly expanded Dave's Fresh Pasta now has all three varieties of Dolin vermouth. Tue Mar 31 10:10:29 -0700 2009 4424096 22331 dfan 2 4643286 Fresh shipment of 750mL bottles of all 3 arrived yesterday! And 1/2 bottles of the dry. Thanks to Felisha's email of their arrival, I was able to get the sweet vermouth without running out of that style at home... Thu Apr 30 14:06:39 -0700 2009 4554411 256764 yarm 1 4645768 My SO and I were also introduced to Dolin vermouth through Drink (by way of a vermouth tasting flight--what a true bar of knowledge they have there!). The only place I've run across Dolin (and I've been scouting out any Dolin Blanc carriers that I can, esp. since enjoying gin & vermouth combinations at Drink) was Ball Square Fine Wines and Liquors (~$14.99). Also, I've been trying hard to have a closer store (in Brookline, where I do my grocery shopping) carry it, but just today I was notified that their distributor tells them that they must order 5 cases of product at a time to place such orders. Ball Square it is for now then.... Enjoy. Fri May 01 10:43:49 -0700 2009 4424096 132284 ostrich 2 4660337 When I told the owner of Ball Square Liquors that I was pleased that they had Dolin and that I didn't have to go elsewhere for it, he perked up and asked me what else I wanted. I put an order in for a bottle of Carpano Antica, so he might try to order a case. He also said that they were taking over the space next door (the chocolate shop) and they're adding a cheese kitchen, tasting area, and additional shelves. Wed May 06 14:57:27 -0700 2009 4645768 256764 yarm 1 4754541 Eastern Standard currently has a couple house made vermouths on their list, an ambre which is similar to Carpano Antica and a rose which is much fruitier and lighter, both delicious straight up. Mon Jun 08 17:23:39 -0700 2009 4424096 13161 barleywino 1 4762666 I saw Carpano Antica at Cirace's in the North End last week, priced comparably to out-of-state liquor stores where I have seen and purchased it. Of course, given how rarely I visit the North End, I'll probably just continue bringing it home from business trips to vermouth-richer locales. I believe (although I don't recollect as clearly) that Cirace's had the Dolin line as well. I don't shop there regularly, and can't speak to their prices or variations in their stocklist. Thu Jun 11 06:37:56 -0700 2009 4424096 12862 johncb 1 4808313 For Carpano Antica, it's a bit of a haul from Boston, but Chris Gasbarro's Wine & Spirits in Swansea, MA stocks it for around $30. Closer than NYC at least!. Also, I've been a RinQuinQuin fan for some years now, and we enjoy it best on a hot day with a large slice of Orange and some Club Soda in a Highball or Mojito glass. Fri Jun 26 09:03:30 -0700 2009 4424096 283491 Canuckgiver 2 4820652 Half bottles of Dolin Blanc and Rouge join Dry in late August. Wed Jul 01 06:35:48 -0700 2009 4808313 152654 punchbowl 3 4840411 If this is true, then it's fantastic news. Wed Jul 08 12:47:12 -0700 2009 4820652 243219 craigasaurus