As I may have mentioned once or eighteen times, we recently returned from an incredible vacation in Panama. When traveling, I always look for things that are unique to that locale. In Alaska, for example, we bought a wind chime of copper plates in the shape of moose. (Ok, turns out it was made in China, nebbich; but, still, you can only buy it in Alaska 😑) I found that there are several good rums made in Panama, so at the duty free shop on leaving I got a bottle of Ron Abuelo 12 year aged dark rum, which had come highly recommended. We got home and I made a Piña Colada ... and it didn't taste quite right. Turns out Piña Coladas should be made with white rum. Fine, I looked up a recipe for cocktails with dark rum and found a Rum Manhattan -- which specifically calls for aged, dark rum. Bingo!
Two parts rum, one part sweet vermouth, dash of bitters. I didn't have vermouth as I don't usually drink mixed drinks. Off to Kol Tuv -- great liquor selection, knowledgeable staff. Since I was making a cocktail, he recommended that I taste the vermouth first to know what flavors are going into it. No problem -- so what's the bracha? Umm... good question, let me know when you find out!
It turned out to be more difficult than I imagined to find the bracha on vermouth. That is primarily because vermouth is rarely drunk by itself, but is used as part of a cocktail. In a mixed drink, the vermouth it always going to be טפל/subordinate, so the bracha on the cocktail will be based on the עיקר/main which is usually a שהכל נהיה בדברו. The other problem (related to it never being the star of the show) is that people generally don't know what vermouth even is.
First step: ask Google what vermouth is. Vermouth is made from wine, herbs, spices, and alcohol. The base wine can be neutral grape wine or unfermented wine must. Moreover, the wine fraction is at least 75%. (Keep that percentage in mind... it also plays into עיקר וטפל.)
Now let's go to the Shulchan Aruch. Generally speaking, the bracha on drinks is שהכל נהיה בדברו. That is because a drink is almost always just an extract/distillation/essence of something more important. The one notable exception is, of course, wine; which gets its own bracha, בורא פרי הגפן. Interestingly, the Shulchan Aruch doesn't even call wine a drink, it is called the פרי/fruit of the grape vine. (The bracha on grapes is not בורא פרי הגפן, but בורא פרי העץ, because in the mind of Chazal, grapevines are planted primarily to produce wine, not grapes.) That is because of the particular distinguished place that wine holds in nearly every culture throughout the ages. Wine is used both in religious and at auspicious social gatherings. For that reason, a drink made with wine can lose the בורא פרי הגפן pretty easily.
This is codified in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 202. There you will find that the bracha on all fruits from trees is בורא פרי העץ except for wine, which gets בורא פרי הגפן. The Shulchan Aruch continues: that is true unprocessed wine, for cooked wine, and for קונדיטון -- that is, wine that has been enhanced with honey and spices. If the wine is mixed with beer (our beer or date beer), then the bracha depends on the majority ingredient. (Distilled liquors, such as whiskey, were not developed until the 15th century CE, so you will not find anything about those in Shulchan Aruch.)
The Biur Halacha adds another drink, quoting from the Chaiyei Adam who says that something called ווערמיט וויין also gets a בורא פרי הגפן. (ווערמיט certainly looks like a transliteration of vermouth, no? I tried Google Translate from Yiddish, no luck :) ) That Biur Halacha goes on to quote the Pri Magaden in Aishel Avrahom as arguing, but only because this ווערמיט וויין is bitter and used for a medicine.
Let's put this all together: The vermouth I have (which was purchased at Kol Tuv) has a strong wine aroma and is 16 ABV. It also tastes like a sweetened wine. This vermouth is not bitter and not used for medicine, it seems to me that the appropriate bracha on vermouth according to everyone is בורא פרי הגפן. I double checked my reasoning with R' Dovid Cohen of the CRC. He concurred.
L'chaim, Shulem!
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