Belsazar Vermouth Dry

The original release of Belsazar’s craft Vermouths that caused a sensation in Berlin.

Belsazar Vermouth is a modern entrepreneurial success story. Sebastian Brack and Maximillian Wagner were cocktail enthusiasts who noticed that there were no Vermouths made in Germany with German herbals. So in 2013 they partnered with The Schladerer Distillery (makers of German fruit Brandies) and Wine-makers from Kaiserstuhl and Markgräflerland. They infused the Wines with local herbs and fortified them with fruit Brandies to develop a range of four signature Vermouths. And things went very well, very quickly. Just a few years later in 2018 Diageo acquired the brand, now operated under their Smirnoff subsidiary.

Belsazar Vermouth Dry has a traditional Dry Vermouth profile. But that understates things quite a bit. This is a crisp German White Wine base infused with natural herbs and bittered with wormwood. The Spirit is sweetened gently with grape must and fortified with new fruit Brandy. Famously, this craft Vermouth is rested in stone casks — NOT wooden barrels. We have never heard of such attention to detail in a Vermouth before. That’s why this Aperitif and mixer became the darling of the cocktail set in Berlin.

Smartass Corner:
The name "Belsazar" comes to us from ancient Babylonian name "Belshazzar." He is perhaps best known from the story of "Belshazzar’s Feast" from the book of Daniel when the famous "writing on the wall" appeared. The phrase has come to mean seeing one’s fate or destiny.