Negroni
The Negroni is a Cocktail consisting of Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Campari.
Common Recipes
Recipe#1: Cocktaldb.com
- Stir in mixing glass with ice & strain
- 1 oz gin (3 cl, 1/4 gills)
- 1 oz sweet vermouth (3 cl, 1/4 gills)
- 1 oz Campari (3 cl, 1/4 gills)
- Serve in a cocktail glass (4.5 oz)
History
According to "Vintage Cocktails (1994), by Susan Waggoner and Robert Markel, Count Camillo Negroni preferred his Americano cocktail with gin instead of club soda. The new version was named after him.
According to David Herpin: This drink is believed to be invented in Milan, Italy by a Count Negroni in 1919. This is not the case. Here are a few early printings of this drink:
Wake up Europe: a book of travel for Australians & New Zealanders by Colin Simpson in 1959
"For aperitifs, I have mentioned already a personal addiction to Campari-soda, but Carpano, another bitter-vermouth type is also good. Campari mixes amiably with gin to form a Negroni cocktail."
It also appears in these publications the same year:
Wine mine in 1959
Gentlemen's quarterly: GQ.: Volume 29 in 1959
This drink does not appear prior to 1950 in any literature. Even in Italian literature there is no mention of a Negroni. This drink was also called a "campari cocktail" throughout the 1970s as we see here:
New York Magazine - Jun 30, 1969 - Page 47 Vol. 2, No. 26
"NEGRONI (CAMPARI COCKTAIL) 1 Campari 1 Gin 1 Italian Vermouth Shake with ice. Strain into chilled glass. CARDINAL COCKTAIL Same as Negroni but with Dry Vermouth and twist of lemon."
This advertisement campaign may also be the reason for the confusion of garnish. This drink called for a lemon twist even up until a decade ago. Then modern mixologist started adding a flamed orange twist to bring out the flavors in the campari. This drink never called for a garnish, much less a flamed orange twist.
This drink was likely created by Campari themselves as it's published advertisements since the drink was in american drinking culture. It is important to note that oftentimes when a popular classic drink is claimed by a bar and a specific bartender, it usually was a story made up by the bar themselves to promote business, this is very rarely the case internationally. Nationally, this is a different story, but we will get to that later.
This drink dates between 1955 -1957 and contained at least as of then:
Stir these ingredients:
Gin
Sweet Vermouth
Campari Bitters
Strain into an old fashioned glass filled with fresh ice cubes.
