Negroni
| IBA Official Cocktail | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Cocktail |
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Served | On the rocks; poured over ice |
| Standard garnish |
orange peel |
| Standard drinkware |  |
| IBA specified ingredients* | |
| Preparation | Stir into glass over ice, garnish and serve. |
| * Negroni (cocktail) recipe at International Bartenders Association | |
The Negroni cocktail is made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet), and one part bitters, traditionally Campari. It is considered an apéritif.
History
While the drink's origins are unknown, the most widely reported account is that it was invented in Florence, Italy in 1919, at Caffè Casoni, ex Caffè Giacosa, now called Caffè Cavalli. Count Camillo Negroni invented it by asking the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water. The bartender also added an orange garnish rather than the typical lemon garnish of the Americano to signify that it was a different drink.[1][2][3][4] After the success of the cocktail, the Negroni Family founded Negroni Distillerie in Treviso, Italy, and produced a ready-made version of the drink, sold as Antico Negroni 1919. One of the earliest reports of the drink came from Orson Welles in correspondence with the Coshocton Tribune while working in Rome on Cagliostro in 1947, where he described a new drink called the Negroni, "The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other."[5]
Variations
As with the Martini cocktail, the trend in recent years has been to use a larger proportion of gin, mainly because the quality of the spirit is a lot better than it used to be, meaning there is less need to dilute the gin to make it more palatable. Some bars today will serve the drink with double the quantity of gin but most stick with the original recipe.
A recent trend is to treat the Negroni as a template, involving a base spirit, a bitters and a vermouth. Bars such as Amor y Amargo in New York, Mauro's Negroni Club in Munich, Germany, Ohla in Barcelona, Spain and Negroni in Buenos Aires, Argentina among others, do this.
The 'Negroni sbagliato' ("wrong Negroni" in Italian) uses sparkling wine (e.g., prosecco) instead of gin. 'Negroski' is a recipe with vodka again as substitute for gin. 'Cardinaloski' is a Negroski with some angostura drops. 'Punt e Mes Negroni' instead replaces standard red vermouth with a specific, distinctively more bitter-tasting brand called Punt e Mes. The 'Cin Cyn' uses Cynar, an artichoke based liqueur, instead of Campari. Pinkish Negroni: with pinkish wine (instead of gin). The "Boulevardier" uses bourbon instead of gin. A "Raultini" is a variation using Aperol instead of Campari, giving its distinctive orange color, lighter alcohol content, and a bit of sweetness. The "Gran Classico Negroni" more complex and herbal, substitutes Gran Classico Bitter for the Campari.
The most basic variation is served "straight up" in a martini glass with a splash of carbonated water floating on top of the alcohol mixture and a twist of lemon zest replacing the orange peel.
Negroni in popular culture
- Tennessee Williams' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (film and novella)[6]
- Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley (vodka Negronis)[7]
- In the short story "Risico" by Ian Fleming, James Bond orders a Negroni[8]
- In the film "Thunderball," James Bond makes himself a Negroni after disarming a henchman.
- In the season six episode of The Sopranos, "The Blue Comet", Bobby Baccalieri muses about sitting on a train, sipping a Negroni.
- Homeworld by Harry Harrison [9]
- Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef (memoir)[10]
- Anthony Bourdain The Layover[11]
See also
References
- ↑ Cecchini, Toby (6 October 2002). "SHAKEN AND STIRRED; Dressing Italian". The New York Times. p. 913. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
- ↑ Regan, Gary (29 March 2009). "Negroni history lesson ends in a glass". San Francisco Chronicle. p. e-6. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ↑ Luca Picchi, Sulle tracce del conte. La vera storia del cocktail Negroni (On the Trail of the Count, The True Story of the Negroni Cocktail), Edizioni Plan, Florenz, ISBN 88-88719-16-4
- ↑ Felten, Eric (2007). How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well. Agate Surrey. p. 207. ISBN 1-57284-089-7.
- ↑ "Oxford English Dictionary negroni". Dec 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-29. "The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other."
- ↑ Williams, Tennessee (1950). The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.
- ↑ Buckley, Christopher (1994). Thank You for Smoking. Random House. p. 272. ISBN 0-679-43174-8.
- ↑ Fleming, Ian (1960). For Your Eyes Only. Jonathan Cape.
- ↑ Harrison, Harry (1986). Homeworld. Severn House. p. 192. ISBN 978-0727813275.
- ↑ Hamilton, Gabrielle (2011). Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef.
- ↑ Survival Skills: Anthony Bourdain | Men's Journal Magazine
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External links
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The Wikibook Bartending has a page on the topic of: Negroni |