At one time it shared equal billing with gin in the martini. But when that cocktail went dry, vermouth was relegated to the back of the bar. Worse than uncool, it became irrelevant.

Now, in the current craze for craft spirits, the drink is in resurrection mode. Restaurants like Rouge Tomate and Franny’s, in New York, are featuring it with greater frequency in cocktails. Vermouth is creeping back into the glass in its original form, as an aperitif sipper on its own.

The recent availability in this country of some superior vermouths from Europe, like the spectacular Mauro Vergano and Carpano Antica from Italy, has inspired American enthusiasts to try concocting this ancient drink in small batches. Vya, in California, started distributing nationally in 1999. Since 2009, four more vermouths have arrived in the domestic market, two of them from the New York area.

One of the more unconventional of the new varieties is the work of Bianca Miraglia, 29, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Dressed one night in suspenders attached to cutoffs over patterned stockings, she looked like a hipster Eloise. Last month, Ms. Miraglia introduced her brand, Uncouth Vermouth; the label bears the silhouette of a woman from the Empire period, uncouthly sticking a finger up her nose.