Before I traveled to Barcelona, Vermouth was not on my radar. Before Therese and I traveled to Barcelona and went on a food tour in the Gracia neighborhood, Vermouth was not at all on my radar. Before we went on the Gracia food tour in Barcelona and were treated to a taste of a fantastic drink of Spanish vermouth at Bodega Ca’l Pep, such a drink was not something I ever would’ve considered or thought about. And thus, I would’ve never found myself hunting down cafes and bars in which to continue or replicate the drinking experience we had just enjoyed. But we did, and we did. And that is where Bormuth came into the picture.
Forgive my perhaps overly clever verbal repetitive hijinks. The simple truth is that, yes, before Barcelona I only knew vermouth as some sort of flavor additive used in adult beverages, though I couldn’t tell you what drinks those are. When we were offered vermouth on the food tour, it was certainly one of the highlights of the day. And while not a big drinker, I do enjoy a small glass of fortified wine now and then, and I also am intrigued by the whole idea of aperitifs and digestifs. Anyway, having tasted vermouth once, we were keen on the idea of finding another spot to drink it again. Upon googling “vermouth bar barcelona” a bunch came up in the El Born neighborhood not far from where we were (having just finished our afternoon tour of the Palau de la Musica). I picked Bormuth as a good one to try out, and off we went.
The poster of a sheep making the sound of a cat was, I thought, a good sign. Irreverence is usually a good thing. But would the vermouth be up to snuff? Would it pass muster?
At the cafe in Gracia, the vermouth, made in house, had come directly from a huge vat, and was served chilled in a small glass, with no additions. At Bormuth we experienced for the first time the way vermouth is commonly served in Barcelona – over ice, with a slice of either lemon or orange (lemon in this case). We enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite as revelatory an experience as our first tasting of the drink had been. You can never outdo your first, or recreate that experience, right?
Having had our afternoon’s drink, we moved along, walking with a little more swagger to our step, and wandered through the barrio on our way to the taxi stand, from which we would ride back to our hotel and have a little rest before the night’s dinner. But the tapas had looked appealing enough at Bormuth that I thought if we had another chance to head there, we might have our dinner there.
Such a second chance we did have. On our last day of our holiday, what I called our bonus day in Barcelona, we had a very lovely day wandering around Barcelona one last time. We grabbed a taxi towards evening – Bormuth is only open in the evening (as I recall, they open at 5:30) – and found a couple of stools from which to order some tapas. The place was already hopping at 7pm on a Wednesday. As I recall, we ordered some pretty standard tapas, like patatas bravas – they were all pretty good. And I think I ordered one last glass of vermouth to seal the deal. Now, when we go back to Spain, and especially when we return to Barcelona, we know what to look for right off the bat – that caramel-colored rich sweet beverage, and the sense of time disappearing and cares lifting that accompanies every sip.
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