El Bandarra Al Fresco - Barcelona Aperitivo, Drink with Tonic or as a Spritz, Bittersweet, Alternative to Pink Gin, Notes of Grapefruit and Mediterranean Botanicals - 1 Litre Bottle, 14% ABV

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If they would drink another gin and tonic or some other drinks you would say, “Oh, this guy. or this mummy is getting drunk.” But since they are drinking vermouth, then it is socially accepted. It’s a nice way to meet friends and share some food before lunch. So that’s the moment – it’s called La Hora del Vermut. Fill a wine glass with ice and add the El Bandarra Al Fresco and Cava. Top up with soda, lightly stir and garnish with a slice of grapefruit. Sipello

My grandparents used to sell bulk wine in barrels, in little bodegas and bars. I’m talking about the Sixties all over Catalonia and in Spain, and that’s our origin. I’m pretty obsessed with exporting the success of the Aperitivo to the US, to the UK, and other markets. The vermouths are made with grapes from the Virgili Bros vineyard at Casa Berger, near Barcelona in the Alt Penedès, which has been in continuous operation since 1878 and was bought by the Virgili family in 1962. They made vermouths for decades by the barrel for small local wine shops but launched their own brand with El Bandarra in 2014. Alex: It’s the same. That’s the nicest thing of the wild hipsters, they get it. They’ve fallen in love with the traditions and they are doing them the same way. It’s called “La Hora del Vermut,” the vermouth hour. It’s during weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 3:00 PM.

And it was a bit hard. We listed the Rojo in, I would say 40 different accounts in the UK, but the Brit consumer didn’t understand. Then we tried, as I told you, with the rosé with tonic and it didn’t work. And we said, okay, let’s launch Al Fresco. Susan: How were they drinking it? In the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties? Now, is it pretty much the same? I’m talking traditional vermouth drinking. Alex: In Barcelona, we are the kings of La Hora del Vermut. Not only us, but all the brands of vermouth are also. Then there’s the early afternoon and early evening. We call it tardeo. Tarde is the word for evening in Spanish. Tardeo is that moment, after lunch, that you meet some friends who start drinking, and then the night comes. Virgili Bros has a mission to “challenge the uptight nature of the drinks business by creating original and enjoyable concepts” such as its El Bandarra Vermut range.

Alex: Yes. Yes. Because the idea it was something new for us. To make the perfect serve, that would have around 5, well, less than five, like 4.5% alcohol volume. So, it’s when you mix one part of Al Fresco, two parts of tonic it’s our perfect serve. 4.5%, super refreshing, easy drinkable. Salud!! And I would like to tell you about Al Fresco. Why this name. What do you think about Al Fresco? This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. Fill a wine glass with ice and add the Amaro Santoni and Prosecco. Lightly stir, then garnish with two green olives. Savoia Alex: Right. Well, let me tell you that in Spain, our concept of Al Fresco is our grannies. So, if you come during summer in many little towns and villages, the grannies take their chairs, and they go outside in the street and they meet with their friends. They share information. They are like the FBI of each little town and that for us is Al Fresco.Alex: Yeah. Yeah. If you come to Barcelona or Madrid or any city all over Spain. It’s very typical. You will get this perfect serve with an olive, but it’s better if you ask for two olives. Always better than one. Susan: So I was wondering with your vermouth, because it is made out of wine, do you ever make sangria from it? If you’ve been to any rooftop or riverside haunt when Britain hits the balmy temperature heights of 12 degrees – hell, even if you haven’t – then you’ll know that the most popular way to serve an apéritif (think: Aperol or Campari) is with soda and a citrus wedge. Most apéritifs add quinine to bring that bittersweet characteristic, meaning tonic is a welcome mixer, too.

A new vermouth created by two brothers in Barcelona to challenge “the uptight nature of the drinks business” is being launched in the UK. Our expert panel put each apéritif to the test, making them according to their “signature serve”, as outlined by the producer. They were seeking a drink that was dry, bittersweet and lighter in alcohol; but, ultimately, an aperitivo they’d like to drink all summer long. Fill a wine glass with ice and add the Savoia Americano and Prosecco. Lightly stir, then garnish with three green grapes. El Bandarra Al Fresco Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.We add some alcohol at the vermouth house for 15% of alcohol volume. And at that moment, we add the sweetness. The traditional method is adding a little bit of caramel and the old vermouths in Spain do it. It’s the traditional way to do it. It’s a business that has decreased a lot. During the Seventies, Eighties, the bulk wine business was huge. It was a lot of liters and nowadays there are beers and other drinks, but not wine. That’s our origin. Alex: So, imagine when my grandparents started in 1962, basically they bought a winery and they started selling bulk wine. At that point, the wine consumption in Spain was so high. It was around 70 liters per person per year of consumption, which now is less than 20. That’s the reality. Alex: I mean, first of all, Spain is a first producer in the world for olives. It’s the main producer and, I mean, we love olives and I have to say that I’m pretty much of an addict. Once I start eating olives, then I can’t stop. Maybe the Blanco or the Rosé we’ll put over ice with a slice of orange and we add an olive as well. It’s great because, as an aperitif, you have this perfect balance between the sweetness and bitterness of El Bandarra

We realize also that there are some other spirit brands, or Aperitivo brands that appeal to women maybe. You don’t see that in Spain. Yeah. I don’t know. I mean, in Spain, we have the macho Espanol, and they don’t drink vermouth, maybe they drink beer. What we realize is the Al Fresco has a perfect gender split, like 50/50. It’s very important for us to target as many people as possible. With a modern, vibrant bottle design, the new El Bandarra Al Fresco is recommended for a simple serve of one part Al Fresco and two parts tonic water over ice, garnished with an orange slice. In the Spritz, sparkling wine is like JC Chasez in NSYNC: a crucial player, if not the flashiest member of the band. “A Spritz without the wine, I don't think it's a Spritz,” Luca says. (We feel the same way about JC.) You add some caramel which gives the color and the sweetness. We use a white wine, not red wine. We have 500-liter barrels at the winery with all vermouth. We use the Solera system. We refresh old vermouth with new vermouth and it has a lot of density. This vermouth, we call it the Elixir of Bandarra. We add some Elixir to each bottle of Bandarra. What it gives is a touch of the old vermouth. That’s how we make it.Alex: There were a lot of soda brands. So, during the early Eighties, Seventies, all over Spain, in every little town, there was a carbonicus. A carbonicus was where distributors used to refill bottles of soda. They were everywhere. There were hundreds of different brands that used to use this kind of bottle that we have. It has this tap mechanical tap. Suddenly, the system was not, in terms of sanitization, it was not the proper. Susan: My grandmother was the one to teach me to drink one spirit only because then I wouldn’t get a hangover. She also was the first person to introduce me to the caipirinha. So, I had a grandmother who liked her drink and yes, and she saw, I liked my drink. And so, she would teach me these things. This is the moment where there’s this socialization and it’s great. It’s before lunch, because we have lunch very late in Spain. It’s the aperitivo moment. I love this moment because, some people have gone out the night before, some people have kids or a mortgage, Still, it’s a moment of socialization, even if you have kids around and people get drunk with vermouth, it’s socially accepted because it’s as if they are eating some tapas, not drinking.