How to make the perfect Negroni... and other recipes for a twist on the classic cocktail
18 September 2020, 14:21
Love an Aperol Spritz? Try a Negroni. It's a darker, more intense spritz that has been a favourite in top hotels and cocktail bars for a century.
The classic Negroni is now 100 years old - and it's no surprise.
Traditionally made with equal measures of gin, Campari and Vermouth, this sippable serve is classed as an apéritif, but people all over the world enjoy this famous cocktail whenever it takes their fancy.
According to the experts at the Cocktail Service, the drink’s origins lie in Italy.
The legend tells of a mysterious Florentine, Count Camillo Negroni, who in 1919 happened across the recipe for the Negroni cocktail.
He asked for an Americano, whose ingredients are very similar to the Negroni cocktail. Its ingredients are Campari, sweet vermouth and soda water (you can find a recipe for this further down the page).
The story goes that Count Camillo asked his usual bartender at the Cassoni Café on the Via de’Tornabuoni to stiffen his Americano by replacing the soda with gin.
The bartender, Fosco Scarselli, also took it upon himself to replace the lemon with orange, and the Negroni was born.
Soon people were ordering a “Negroni”… and they continue to do so until the present day.
If you fancy taking on this bitter and refreshing cocktail, check out these recipes below.
Classic Negroni
Ingredients:
25ml Gin
25ml Campari
25ml Sweet Vermouth
Method:
Fill a rocks glass with ice and add all ingredients. Stir five times to enable dilution. Garnish with a dehydrated orange wheel.
Sailor's Negroni
Ingredients:
1 oz Campari
1 oz Vermouth
0.5 oz Coffee Liqueur
0.5 oz Mezcal
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with fresh ice to chill. Strain over fresh ice, then garnish with a lemon slice and serve.
Americano
The Americano was created in the 1860s at Gaspare’s Campari’s bar in Milan, Italy, but is best known as what James Bond orders in the novel Casino Royale.
Ingredients:
45ml Campari
45ml Sweet Vermouth
Top Soda
Method:
Combine all ingredients, strain over fresh ice and garnish with an orange wedge.
Aperol Spritz
A beautifully simple and refreshing cocktail, create the perfect Aperol Spritz at home with the 50:50 recipe.
Fill a large wine glass with ice
Combine Prosecco followed by Aperol in equal parts
Add a dash of soda
Garnish with a fresh orange slice
Nut Negroni
Ingredients:
35ml Your favourite Orange Gin
35ml Your favourite Red Vermouth
35ml Your favourite Bitter Aperitif
Dash Chocolate Bitters
A Dehydrated Orange Wheel and Ferrero Rocher
Method:
Stir all liquid ingredients together in a glass with a large ice cube and then pour into a separate glass containing a new large ice cube. Garnish with the dehydrated orange wheel and Ferrero Rocher.
Rhubarb Negroni
Ingredients:
25ml Slingsby Rhubarb gin
25ml Sweet Red Vermouth
15ml Campari
10ml Aperol
Method:
Stir down ingredients with ice in a short glass and garnish with an orange wedge and a pink grapefruit twist.
Other exciting twists to try...
The White Negroni – British Mixologist Wayne Collins created this spin on a Negroni, replacing Vermouth and Campari with Lillet Blanc and Suze.
Boulevardier – The same basics of the cocktail, but you simply replace Gin with Whisky.
Agavoni – As per the Boulevardier, the same basics of the cocktail occur, but you replace the Gin with Tequila.
