How a tiny Vancouver Island distillery made two of the world’s best vermouths | Canada Voices

Most British Columbians likely have no idea that some of the world’s best vermouth is made right in their own backyard.

I certainly didn’t – at least, not until last winter, when a Seattle-based bartender offhandedly mentioned that he drove all the way to Vancouver Island just to fill his car with the stuff.

The target of his quest was Esquimalt Vermouth & Apéritifs: a small-batch producer run by husband-and-wife team Quinn and Michela Palmer. Their production facility is found down a sleepy, winding road in rural Nanaimo, with a makeshift bottle shop and tasting room located inside. It’s there, flanked by thick Vancouver Island forest, that the Palmers live and work on six acres of quiet land. As its name suggests, their base was originally in Esquimalt, on the southern tip of the island, but the couple moved both their lives and operations to Nanaimo last year. The brand is the epitome of IYKYK – internet short form for “If you know, you know.”

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Esquimalt Vermouth launched in 2019 with its Rosso Sweet Vermouth, a complex herbaceous mix of more than 20 botanicals, which promptly sold out its first two batches within a day of being released. Word of mouth slowly began to trickle outward, but it was in 2023 that the brand really turned heads after taking home the awards for World’s Best Dry Vermouth and World’s Best Semi-Sweet Vermouth at the World Vermouth Awards.

“Most people have never tried vermouth,” says Quinn. “They don’t know from one brand or the other which ones are going to be good, and having an award like that hopefully gives them confidence that what they’re buying will be tasty. And hey, bonus perk: It’s local.”

Vermouth is an aromatized fortified wine that has been infused with different spices, herbs, roots, flowers and even barks. Dating back to the 18th century, it has long been popular in European countries and more recently has been gaining popularity across the world, with the global vermouth market projected to hit US$19.7-billion by 2029.

In Canada alone, the vermouth market is expected to stretch at a compound annual growth rate of 6.34 per cent from 2026 to 2033. Part of its appeal might be the fact that vermouth is lower in alcohol content, typically hovering between 15 and 18 per cent, making it more accessible than liquors such as vodka or whisky.

There are multiple variations, too: from dry white vermouth (commonly found in a martini) to sweet red vermouth (a key component of classics including negronis and boulevardiers). But vermouth’s bittersweet flavour profile means it’s also great simply mixed with soda water or poured over ice and sipped all on its own.

“The magic of it comes down to its versatility,” says Quinn. “Sometimes you want a strong cocktail. Sometimes you just want to pour something on ice and be done with it. Sometimes, in the heat of summer, you want something light and bubbly and carbonated. Vermouth can do it all.”

The Palmers first fell in love with vermouth in 2017, when they attended a tasting at a Vancouver craft distillery. “That really opened our eyes,” says Michela. “Like, ‘This is so delicious. Why aren’t more people drinking it?’”

The couple had been running a modest non-alcoholic soda syrup brand called Rootside at the time, but that fateful day led them to pivot, with Quinn making the vermouth and Michela running the business side. Michela studied entrepreneurship in university; Quinn, meanwhile, went to school for international relations, so he used his obsessive research skills to teach himself how to make vermouth (“Before we started this, I had never fermented a single thing,” he jokes).

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And that outsider perspective has resulted in some interesting differentiators. For one thing, vermouth is typically created with white wine, but Esquimalt Vermouth uses mead that is made in-house with honey from the Palmers’ own bees. For another, their products celebrate Vancouver Island’s unique terroir, incorporating local ingredients such as Douglas fir tips, sea asparagus and wild-foraged elderflower.

“It’s a really neat expression of a region,” says Michela. If you know, you know.