The Negroni is one of the first cocktails that you learn to master as a bartender,
mostly because other bartenders and
chefs like to drink it for their knockoff,
but that being said that's not just them being wankers for once it is one of the most balanced and
delicious cocktails available.
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When I was being taught how to make drinks my bar manager
told me to think of them as triangles, so you've got one point
being the sweet one point being the sour or the bitter and one point being
the dry and boozy. And it's pretty obvious here where that's all coming from,
your gin is your dry and boozy the Campari is the bitter and the sweet
vermouth is a sweet and then it's all tied together and elevated by the lovely
earthy and herbaceous notes from the botanical than all of these ingredients
As with basically every classic cocktail the origins of the Negroni are disputed
the story goes that Negroni is an evolution of the americano which in
itself was an evolution of the Milano Torino. The Milano Torino is a super
simple aperitif style drink which is equal parts Campari which is from
Milan and sweet vermouth from Turin. So when Americans started arriving on the
scene for holidays in Italy around the time of prohibition they liked their
high bowls, they liked the Milano Torino but would ask for it with a splash of soda
and thus the Americana was born. Incidentally this is also supposedly why
a long black is called an Americano in Europe because when the soldiers from
America came over to Europe in World War 2 they added some hot water
to their esspresso to make it more similar to the filter coffee that they
were drinking at home. The next bit is the best but not necessarily accurate
story, there was apparently a count Camillo Negroni who was a bit of a
cowboy and a wild child and he asked his local bartender in Florence if he could
have something like the americano but stronger the bartender substituted gin
for the soda and the rest is history although quite widely contested history
because there are other printed recipes for
cocktails very similar or indeed identical to the Negroni
appearing around the same time and slightly before.
Nowadays the accepted recipe for the Negroni is equal parts gin Campari and sweet vermouth but honestly
I agree with Gas Regan, a drinks writer who once said 'you can slap my wrist and
call me Deborah if it doesn't also work no matter what ratios you use' so feel
free to make a hero of your favorite ingredients but this is what I think you
need to make the perfect Negroni. So really any london dry-style of gin that
is one which is more juniper forward will work in this drink because they
provide enough of a backbone but I've gone for four pillars which is a local
gin because they use fresh whole oranges in their distillation process which
works really well in this drink. So the vermouth I use is Casa Mariol Negre
this is a Spanish vermouth, which is made from Macabeo grapes and infused with over
a hundred and fifty different botanicals so it's really complex it's got a lot
going on it's also a little bit lighter in body than a lot of your more
traditional Italian vermouths. That said, some would argue that you need those
sweets or more vanilla notes from your more traditional style vermouths, in that
case look at something like Antica Formula or Cocchi di Torino for a more
robust style and finally Campari there are lots of excellent bitters out there
nowadays but we'll stick to the classic bitter aperitif made with
herbs and barks where you get that really nice bitter note, it did used to be made with
crushed beetles for the red colour but not anymore
Negroni was never a fancy cocktail it's available and basically every cafe in
Italy and they're usually the ingredients will just be poured over the
ice give it a stir stick an orange wedge in and boom you're done, so if you don't
have a fancy mixing glass or you just need a drink
really quickly then feel free to do it that way too. So it's generally good bar
etiquette to get your garnish prepared before you start making the drink
because as soon as you get some ice and spirit then it's diluting and you
don't want to then be faffing around with an orange at that point. As I said
you can just use an orange wedge I personally like to do a twist because
then that way when you give it a little squeeze over at the top of the drink you
get all the lovely orange oils just floating on the surface of it.
Hold the orange at the top and then cut away from you for as long as you would like your
twist to be, I cut the rind a little bit thicker and then once it's off I flip it
over and cut the pith off the bottom of it, just because it's got a bit of a
bitter note to it which you don't want in your drink
the Negroni is equal parts of all of the ingredients I'm gonna do 30 mls but
you're welcome to do as much or as little as you like. So you've got 30 mls
of Four Pillars gin,
30 mls of Campari and 30 mls of Casa Mariol vermut negre.
Pop those all into your mixing glass fill the mixing glass with as much
ice as you can fit in there grab your bar spoon and you just want to pop the
back of your bar spoon against the inside of the mixing glass and push the
ice around once you can feel the glass start to get cold your Negroni is
probably ready give it a taste, maybe just a little bit longer for this one it
was so just quite a harsh flavor you don't really want to be tasting the
alcohol in this you just want to be getting all of the lovely flavors
perfect so grab at your chilled glass pop some good ice into your glass if you
have it it just helps slow the dilution as you're sipping on your Negroni.
Pop your dulep strainer into the mixing glass to hold the ice back and pour over
the block of ice.
Take your orange twist face it out the way over the glass and
just fold it quickly over the top of the Negroni so that you're releasing all
of the lovely orange oils over the surface of your drink then give it a
little twist and pop it in the glass and you're done.
So now you know.
As I said at the beginning the beauty of the Negroni is how simple it is and how easy
is to see how the balance works and because of that the variations are endless.
Around the same time as a Negroni was being born another cocktail
called the Boulevardier was also appearing this one that substitutes
bourbon for the gin, just the ratios are slightly different, so it's one and a
half parts of bourbon to half a part of the Campari and the sweet vermouth so it's
a bit boozier, and obviously a little bit heavier with the bourbon but delicious
after-dinner drink. If tequila is more your thing there's the Rosita, where you
substitute the gin with tequila, one of my favorites is something called a white
Negroni so you do keep the gin in that one but you substitute the sweet
vermouth for Lillet Blanc and the Campari for Suze which is a bitter gentian liqueur
so that one is just a bit fresher and lighter it's excellent for summer
Basically as I said the variations are endless
but the proportions do tend to be a little bit less forgiving so if you
would like me to guide you through them in another episodes then leave me a comment.
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tell us how you make your Negroni