Negroni cocktail

This is a real bartenders’ drink. Many will say it is a man’s drink but I think there is something very cool (not that alcohol makes you cool, obviously) and egalitarian in a girl ordering a ‘men’s drink’. If you do want to soften it up a bit, just mix your Negroni up with a glass of Champagne or Cava.

This drink is at its finest as an aperitif; all those tasty herbs wake up and cleanse the taste buds.

In its purest form it is super simple. The 1:1:1 ratio will be the easiest cocktail recipe you’ll ever memorise. The real magic starts once you start to play around with the brands of alcohol you use as you can really get some delicious flavours going on.

You can play with the ratios to suit your taste. A delicious one I had recently at The Lexington House was made with 1 ¼ oz Rusty Blade gin, 1oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth and ¾ oz Campari. In fact, my Negroni addiction started at The Lex – something that they obviously noticed as they gave us our own barrel of aged Negroni when we left California to move to England in the summer.

Try any leftover Campari mixed into beer (blonde or white beer or even a Corona) with a wedge of lime. Trust me. There’s something surprising that happens when the yeasty, lightly sweet flavour of beer bumps up against bitter orange Campari. Together with the brightness of lime, it’s complex and a little sophisticated (like me).

I do love a good cocktail, check out my other cocktail recipes here.

Ingredients:

To make one strong drink (to make more, just remember – equal parts of all the liquids)

• 30ml (1oz) gin
• 30ml (1oz) Campari
• 30ml (1oz) red vermouth
• Ice
• Orange peel strip – use a veg peeler

1. Before you start, put your bottles of alcohol in the freezer along with your serving glasses. The colder your ingredients are when you start, the less ice you’l need and the less your drink will be diluted. A warm Negroni is never a good thing.
2. Stir gin, Campari and vermouth together in a cocktail shaker, or do what I do and mix it an un-glamorous fashion in a Pyrex measuring jug
3. Pour the mixture into a rocks glass with a big cube of ice. Garnish with an orange twist.

Equipment and Ingredients

You can now buy the equipment I use in this recipe through my shop. I’ve spent years testing my favourite bits of equipment so rest-assured that whatever I recommend is the best tool for the job and will give you great results without cluttering your kitchen with unused tools. I receive a small affiliate fee from Amazon if you buy via my link. The products don’t cost you any more. These small fees help me keep creating all the free content I share.