About

Bitter and dry, this is the Marmite of cocktails, with some finding them highly addictive whilst others run to the hills at the mention of the name.

It is without doubt however one of the most classic cocktails in a Bartenders repertoire, simply but expertly mixed with equal parts Gin, Campari and Sweet Vermouth.

At the Spirits Hub we prefer ours mixed directly in a rocks glass rather than in a mixing glass as others may prefer.

Please avoid shakers, shaking a Negroni is a crime fit for punishment.

Negronis must be stirred, preferably over a large block of ice, we don’t want this spirit forward serve being overly diluted. How you choose to stir your serve is completely down to yourself, you could use a trusty bar spoon or like Bartending legend Gaz Regan you could simply amalgamate the spirits with a finger.

Once made simply garnish with a twist of orange peel, breaking the back of the peel to express its oils across the glass.

A Brief History

The origins of the Negroni are hotly debated and history falls into two camps.

The first and most reported fable states that this iconic drink was invented at Caffe Casoni in Florence, Italy in 1919, where Count Camillo Negroni asked a close friend, bartender Forsco Scarselli to strengthen the alcoholic content of his favourite cocktail, the Americano.

This request was completed by replacing the soda water with gin. Scarselli also added an orange peel to garnish, rather than that of lemon that you would get with a classic Americano.

Legend states that before long everybody attending Caffe Casoni was asking for a Negroni, an iconic cocktail was born.

In later years this story was shot down by a descendant of the Negroni family. Noel Negroni made a passionate argument that there was no lineage for Count Camillo Negroni, citing that he was not on the family tree.

He put forward a different debate for the cocktail’s creator stating that its founder is a General Pascal Olivier de Negroni de Cardi, a decorated cavalry officer who fought in the Franco-Prussian War.

Prior to his war service, Pascal Negroni was posted as base commander to Saint Louis, Senegal between 1855 and 1865

Noel Negronis argument could actually be well founded, he backs his account with the evidence of a letter from Pascal to his older brother Roche, that reads: “…Incidentally, did you know that the vermouth-based cocktail that I invented in Saint Louis is a great hit at the Lunéville officers club?”

Obviously, the quote is by no means conclusive, however there is further evidence and accounts from individuals in Senegal that mentioned a French Army Captain who was promoting the word of the Negroni in Dhakar.

So, there we have it, which story is the most believable?

Both theories have their own flaws, however, whatever the story of its origins the Negroni remains a classic and has almost developed a cult like status, with Orson singing its praises while he was making the film “Black Magic” in Rome in 1947. “The bitters are excellent for your liver,” he said, “the gin is bad for you. They balance each other.”