Count Jelgroni. On the golf course, at the pool, at the park, in the hot tub, the Count’s always up for good time and chill vibes. Awlright, awwlrigght, awwwllrigghht. Cheeya.
The Negroni is an egalitarian cocktail. It is characterized by 3 parts: Strong, Bitter, and Fortified. Of all the mother cocktails, the Negroni’s focus is bitterness. It has a bold flavor and striking color. Negroni’s are all about taking a bunch of strong personalities and creating cohesive harmony. This cocktail represents diplomacy and culture. It’s incredibly diverse, summer, winter, before dinner, after dinner, low abv, morning, night, high class, low maintenance, the Negroni has it all.
Classic Negroni Recipe:
1oz Gin
1oz Sweet vermouth
1oz Campari
Stir, serve on the rocks, express an orange peel over the top for garnish.
Negroni Mechanical Parts:
1oz Strong
1oz Fortified Wine
1oz BitterAppropriate aromatic garnish
Many bartenders argue about whether the Negroni is best served up or over ice. As a default setting, I always choose over ice. The classic Negroni contains a fair amount of sugar. If you examine Campari by itself you will see that it is thick, it moves at a slow, sluggish pace around the glass. Campari’s weight can be so heavy (a reason why it is commonly served with soda water) that if it is served merely up, the cocktail will warm over time and the texture will start to “break”. It will lose its cohesive luxurious mouth feel, the light stuff will go to the top, the heavy stuff will sink to the bottom. Since the Negroni is a very bitter drink meant to be sipped over time, it is overall a more pleasing experience to have the drink over ice to naturally protect the integrity of the drink. However, if a guest wants to drink it up, or you are making a riff with different ingredients where such precautions are not necessary, go for it.
Note: Because of the healthy amount of sugar in Negronis, bartenders often don’t stir enough and serve an overly sweet imbalanced drink. Remember that more stirring is necessary for this cocktail. Follow the Arc of Dilution and taste your way through to ensure a perfectly balanced Negroni every time.
Classic Negroni
Tweaking the proportions of a Negroni has become standard practice among bartenders depending on what sort of riff they would like to create. Many classic drinks like the “Boulevardier” and “Old Pal” are riffs on the Negroni that try to put the Spirit on the main stage of the drink. For these types of riffs the parts are as follows:
Negroni Mechanics Version 2:
1.5oz Strong
.75oz Bitter
.75oz Fortified
Appropriate aromatic garnish
Examples:
Boulevardier
1.5 Bourbon + .75 Campari + .75 Sweet Vermouth + Orange Twist
Old Pal
1.5 Rye + .75 Campari + .75 Dry Vermouth + Lemon Twist
White Negroni
1.5 Gin + .75 Blanc Vermouth + .75 Suze + Lemon Twist
“Island Tea”
Aged, Rum, Cocchi Torino, Suze. Barrel aged to perfection.
The possibilities with Negronis are endless. This is a jelly favorite riff “Island Tea.” This is a barrel aged Negroni that combines fruity- vanillay Aged rum, molasses and red fruit noted Cocchi Torino, and the famously bitter, lemony, and grassy Suze. The combination is rested in a cocktail barrel just long enough to marry the flavors. The result is a smooth, warm weather sipper, that tastes shockingly like iced tea.
Have fun with classics and with riffing on your own unique creations. <3 J