This cocktail is as unapologetic as I’ve learned to be at this stage in life. It’s a love it or hate it kind of vibe. It’s dark, it’s moody but smooth and perfect for slow sipping and unwinding a week or day that was. If you like your drinks bold and a bit bitter, this will speak to you as much as it does to me. It is one of my go to cocktails when I want something easy that will get the job done and feels a little sophisticated. It is minimal effort and no cocktail shaker is required. It is typically served with a dusting of orange squeeze and peel or if you are feeling particularly ‘lazy’ (I often am when this drink is calling me) and opt for the pre-dried slices of orange many bottle shops sell these days and keep forever.
As per my other posts, quality ingredients and quality glassware make a difference – use the best you can afford. Cocktail ice blocks are best here or if you don’t have the trays, chill the glass ahead of time and one to two large ice cubes. We don’t want to dilute its bite and beautiful rosy colour.
Worth making?
- Yes — if you like your drinks bitter, bold, and to the point
- Yes — if you want something simple to make that has a strong flavour profile
- Yes — if you’ve got a decent gin
- Skip it — if you don’t like strong and prefer sweet cocktails
- Skip it — if you don’t have good quality gin, vermouth and Campari. Can bypass the orange if you must, but the rest are non-negotiable
- Skip it — if your bold is a shot of something, this is a slow sipping contemplative kinda drink
Negroni
Ingredients
- 1 shot (40ml) Campari
- 1 shot (40 ml) Quality Gin Preferably a Negroni gin and don’t use a flavoured gin. I use Four Pillars Negroni gin
- 1 shot (40 ml) Campari – rouge
- 1 Orange
Instructions
- Add a cocktail ice block (or one to two large ice blocks) into a tumbler glass with an orange peel or dried orange segment
- Pour each shot into the glass and stir
- Using a vegetable peeler or very sharp knife, peel a thin slice of the orange peel trying to avoid the bitter white part of the peel – want the orange only.
- Add peel segment to glass and stir. If you want more ‘orange’ slice a segment and squeeze a ‘spritz’ of juice in. Don’t go heavy on the orange squeeze or it will alter the balance of the drink
Make it your way
- Swap the gin, go lighter and citrus-forward or deeper and more botanical depending on your mood but don’t go too out there (there are a broad range of options on the market) or the flavour profile will be off.
- Play with the vermouth, a richer sweet vermouth makes it rounder, a drier one sharpens it up a little.
- Use more or less orange peel depending on how much you want the orange flavour to sing
That’s about as far as you go before it stops being a Negroni, which, frankly, is kind of the point.
