Vermouth itself carries centuries of curiosity, experimentation, and quiet ingenuity.

Long before it was poured over ice or stirred into a cocktail, infused wine was already finding its place in ancient civilisations. In China, Egypt, and Greece, people were steeping wines with herbs and botanicals, often for their perceived medicinal benefits. The Greek physician Hippocrates is said to have created a version with wormwood and wild herbs – a kind of early tonic, intended to restore balance as much as provide pleasure.

Fast forward to 18th-century Europe, and vermouth begins to look more like the drink we know today. In Turin, a man named Antonio Benedetto Carpano refined the idea in 1786, blending wine with spirit, sugar, and a carefully guarded mix of botanicals. What had once been medicinal became social – something to sip, to share, to begin an evening. Around the same time, across the border in Chambéry, a lighter, drier style emerged, shaping the two great traditions that still define vermouth today.

The name itself comes from the German wermut – wormwood – the bitter backbone of the drink, and still a legal requirement in EU vermouth. It’s a small detail, but it hints at vermouth’s dual nature: both flavour and function, indulgence and intention.

Over the 19th and early 20th centuries, vermouth found new life as both apéritif and essential cocktail ingredient. It slipped effortlessly into classics like the Martini, the Manhattan, and later the Negroni – drinks that became rituals in their own right. For a time, it was everywhere. Then, quietly, in the mid-20th century, it wasn’t.

But vermouth has a way of returning. In recent years, it’s found itself back at the centre of the glass – not just as a supporting act, but as something worth sipping slowly, appreciating fully.

And now, it carries another story too. One shaped by travel, by heritage, by long conversations and small discoveries. One that begins in Sussex, but stretches far beyond it – Sussex’s very own Silk Road.

Vermouth Actually is a celebration of all of that. Of history and reinvention. Of craft and curiosity. Of small moments, shared drinks, and things that mean more than they seem.