味美思很少有机会做主角，一直都是酒架上被冷落的壁花。在鸡尾酒的世界里，它几乎总被排挤到利口酒王国的底层位置。即使是最常用到它的干马提尼，它的作用也越来越小，如今更仅作为浸杯之用。但正如人们所知，对于温斯顿·丘吉尔来说，即便是浸杯也太过分了。一次有人问他喜欢怎样的马提尼，他的回答简单粗暴：“我希望我在喝马提尼的时候，味美思能放在房间的另一边。”

Rarely allowed to shine alone, vermouth has long been the left-alone wallflower of the backbar. In cocktails, it’s almost-always pegged to the lower rungs of the liquor hierarchy. Even in the ever-drying Martini, the category’s most feted oeuvre, over the years, vermouth has been relegated to nothing more than a rinse. For Winston Churchill, famously, even that was too much. Once asked how he’d like his preferred curative, the reply was curt: “I would like to observe the vermouth from across the room while I drink my Martini.”

“它都被遗忘了，” Manuel Palacio说。他之前是阿玛尼高定经理，现在是Pirata的总经理。Pirata是轩尼诗道新开业的酒吧，立意要让客人重拾对味美思的兴趣，认识到它并非至多只能用于装点鸡尾酒。Pirata的定位是香港第一家“vermuteria”（西班牙语，意为“味美思酒吧”），它顺应了近来对长期被忽略的味美思的复兴风潮。历经数十年的冷落，味美思终于慢慢回到全世界各个酒吧的酒水单上了。比如说在巴塞罗那，El Bulli主厨Ferran Adrià的弟弟Albert在2013年开了一家味美思酒吧Bodega 1900，而味美思苏打如今已和经典的金汤力一样受欢迎；在纽约，Amor y Amargo是为数不多的供应自制甜味美思的酒吧之一；在香港，生于马德里的Palacio和意大利合伙人Christian Talpo表示Pirata的部分灵感源自他们各自家乡的传统。“一开始我们把注意力集中在西班牙式的味美思喝法——加苏打，加橄榄，”Palacio说，“后来我们意识到有一些味美思最好不加冰饮用，而另一些最好要加冰，还有的适合纯饮……”

“It’s been forgotten,” says Manuel Palacio, former Armani Prive manager and now GM of Pirata, a new bar on Hennessey Road that hopes to revitalise interest in the category beyond a bit-part in the make-up of a cocktail. Billed as the city’s first “vermuteria” – the Spanish word for vermouth bar – Pirata follows a recent resurgence in appreciation for the long-unheeded drink. After decades of neglect, vermouth is slowly finding its way back on to bar menus around the world. In, say, Barcelona, where El Bulli chef Ferran Adrià’s younger brother Albert opened his vermuteria Bodega 1900 in 2013, vermouth-soda is now as popular as the hallowed Gin & Tonic. In New York, Amor y Amargo is just one of several bars that serves its own house-made sweet vermouth on tap. In Hong Kong, Madrid-born Palacio and Italian co-founder Christian Talpo say Pirata is, in part, inspired by the traditions of their homelands. “In the beginning we were very fixed on just enjoying vermouth the way it’s served in Spain – with soda, the olive,” explains Palacio. “But then we realised that some of them are better enjoyed without ice, some work better on the rocks, some served neat…”

当下的酒单涵盖了将近20多种味美思：比如像仙山露红和曼奇诺陈酿这样经典的都灵风格意大利味美思，还有像诺里帕特干和波西耶这样的法国味美思，以及像佩鲁齐红这样的西班牙味美思等等。酒单上也有一些不那么主流的牌子，比如纽约的Atsby Armadillo Cake和一个2012年建立的澳洲品牌Regal Rogue——客人得以一尝来自地中海传统产区之外的味美思。另外，酒单上还有一系列以味美思为基酒的鸡尾酒，它们的配方出自Palacio的业内朋友之手：新花花公子的原料包括分别以香草和橙子浸渍的威士忌、红苹果浸渍的金巴利和安提卡配方味美思，由曾和Palacio在伦敦小佛罗里达酒吧共事过的Massimiliano Bossio创作。同时，意大利调酒大师Giancarlo Mancino创作了经典的内格罗尼和东京到都灵这两款鸡尾酒，后者的配方是曼奇诺陈酿干味美思、蝶矢梅酒和柚子清酒。

Right now, the current menu covers more than 20 varieties: classic, Torino-style Italian bottles such as Cinzano Rosso and Mancino Vecchio Barricato, Noilly Prat Dry and Boissiere Sweet from France and Perucchi Rosso from Spain. There are more off-beat offerings, too: Atsby Armadillo Cake from New York and Regal Rogue, an Australian brand launched in 2012  – both offer a glimpse at how the category can be conceived outside of the traditional Mediterranean vermouth belt. In addition, a list of vermouth-based cocktails come from a number of Palacio’s industry friends: The New Boulevardier, a mix of vanilla- and orange-infused whisky, red apple-infused Campari and Antica Formula, comes care of Massimiliano Bossio, Palacio’s former colleague at Floridita, London. Meanwhile, Italian bar grandee Giancarlo Mancino offers a classic Negroni as well as the Tokyo-Torino One Way – Mancino Vermouth Secco, Aperol, Choya umeshu and yuzu sake.

Palacio说酒吧拒绝任何品牌的赞助以保留酒单的独立性。客人从而得以探索他始终认为是酒架上被了解最少的酒类。“我们试着让自己的收藏成为亚洲最全的。”Palacio说。但这并非酒吧的目标所在。“我们对发现味美思的热情，才使得我们独一无二。”

Palacio says the bar has turned down brand sponsorship in order to remain independent in its selection. This allows guests to explore what he insists is the least understood category on the backbar. “We are trying to carry the largest collection in Asia,” he says. But that’s not the point of the bar. “Our love of discovering vermouth. That’s what makes us unique.”

Secrets Door

15ml 添加利金酒 / Tanqueray 10
15ml 金巴利 / Campari
15ml 曼奇诺红味美思 / Mancino Rosso
15ml 雅凡那利口酒 / Averna Amaro
10ml 柠檬汁/ Lemon juice
10ml 糖浆 / Sugar syrup
1个蛋清 / 1 Egg white

将所有原料放入调酒听干摇，然后再加冰摇匀。双重滤入冰过的碟形香槟杯。以覆盆子装饰。

Add all ingredients to a mixing tin and dry shake; add ice and shake again; double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with star anise.