Few cocktails are simpler than the negroni – at least, by its traditional preparation. Three ingredients in equal parts make for a straightforward recipe: two ounces each of gin, dry vermouth and Campari, served over ice and garnished with an orange twist. What’s not to love?
Well, maybe you’re not much of a bitter-loving person. That’s fine; plenty of cocktails in the bar, after all. If you do enjoy those spirit-forward, powerful flavours, though, hang back with us for a minute and make yourself a glass of this iconic drink.
Of course, there are also the newfangled versions of the negroni. Purists might have all sorts of other names for these supposed bastardisations, but we’re happy calling them spins on a classic. Whatever it is, they taste good, and that’s really the only thing we care very much about.
Here, we run through how we like our negronis, from the traditional to a few personalised twists for different tastes and occasions. We’ve listed specific products, too, but don’t worry too much if you don’t have them; whichever brands you have on hand will work fine.
Have fun experimenting!
Before you begin
There’s a few small things you can do to get the most out of your negronis at home.
First, keep your gin cold for a silkier mouthfeel. We recommend putting it in the freezer; the high alcohol content means it won’t turn solid, so you can keep it in basically forever. We’ve been told doing so can dull the gin’s flavours, but we haven’t found that to be the case. (Besides, the final mix is ice-cold!)
Second, build the drink with a big ice block. Being so simple, the negroni is one of those drinks that really suffers when there’s excessive dilution. Unless you plan to down your drink immediately, using small ice cubes – or worse, crushed ice – is a surefire way to end up with a sad, watery mess in minutes.
On that note, some recipes might ask that you build your negroni in a separate mixing glass, then strain it out into the final serving glass with fresh ice. While that’s certainly best practice, we find it a tad excessive. After all, the last thing you probably want when drinking at home is the dread of having more dishes to wash.
Now, on to the actual recipes…
The classic negroni
This one’s as basic as it gets. Some recipes might say to add a whole orange slice, and not just the peel, but we don’t think the slice adds much – plus it can get a little clunky if placed on the rim, especially when you’re nearing the end of your drink.
Try out this version first, and play around with the proportions. With just three ingredients to juggle, you can more methodically experiment with which you’d like to dial back and which you’d like more of. We like cutting both the Campari and vermouth by 10ml each, for a ratio of 1.5:1:1 in the final mix.
Also: The traditional recipe calls for London dry gin, but we’ve found more success with styles that incorporate other flavours.
Our gin of choice for this recipe, Widges, has a little citrus pop and a mild spiciness, which we think holds its own against the Campari and vermouth more than a purely juniper-forward gin.
Ingredients
- 30ml Widges London dry gin
- 30ml Campari
- 30ml Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino
- 1 block of ice
- 1 orange peel (optional)
Tools
- 1 Old Fashioned glass (or rocks glass)
- 1 jigger
- 1 barspoon
Putting it together
- Measure and pour the gin, Campari and sweet vermouth into a glass with ice.
- Stir for about 20 seconds, until everything is cold and there is a light amount of condensation covering the entire outer surface of the glass.
- Twist an orange peel to express the oils, then rub it around the rim of the glass.
- Place the orange twist on the rim of the glass as a garnish. Serve.
Bitters: Small additions, surprising results
Sticking with the classic recipe, you can add a few drops of bitters to make your negroni a little special. One popular addition is the usual suspect, Angostura.
Another we really like is a couple dashes of cocoa bitters, which makes for a quick and easy chocolate negroni. (Some recipes call for a little chocolate liqueur or creme de cacao, but we’re okay without it.)
Dialling up the orange: Going half-and-half
In this slight variation of the original, we take half the Campari and replace it with triple sec, for something with a stronger orange flavour.
We also add a couple splashes of orange bitters to really amp the citrus note up and round out the sweetness just a little.
Ingredients
- 1 orange peel (optional)
- 30ml Tanqueray No 10 gin
- 15ml Campari
- 15ml Cointreau
- 30ml Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino
- 2 dashes Scrappy’s Orange Bitters
- 1 block of ice
Tools
- 1 Old Fashioned glass (or rocks glass)
- 1 jigger
- 1 barspoon
Putting it together
- Measure and pour the gin, Campari, triple sec and sweet vermouth into a glass with ice. Add the bitters.
- Stir for about 20 seconds, until everything is cold and there is a light amount of condensation covering the entire outer surface of the glass.
- Twist an orange peel to express the oils, then rub it around the rim of the glass.
- Place the orange twist on the rim of the glass as a garnish. Serve.
Meet the punchy cousin: Boulevardier
The boulevardier is perhaps the most widely recognised negroni variation here. (It’s even on the International Bartenders Association’s “official” cocktail list!)
The recipe is straightforward enough: Replace the gin in a classic negroni with whisky – and add a half-ounce. Everything else is more or less the same.
Ingredients
- 45ml Nikka Coffey Grain whisky
- 30ml Campari
- 30ml Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino
- 1 block of ice
- 1 orange peel (optional)
Tools
- 1 Old Fashioned glass (or rocks glass)
- 1 jigger
- 1 barspoon
Putting it together
- Measure and pour the whisky, Campari and sweet vermouth into a glass with ice.
- Stir for about 20 seconds, until everything is cold and there is a light amount of condensation covering the entire outer surface of the glass.
- Twist an orange peel to express the oils, then rub it around the rim of the glass.
- Place the orange twist on the rim of the glass as a garnish. Serve.
On the lighter side: Americano
No, it’s not a coffee drink! The americano is another classic cocktail, even predating the negroni by a fair bit. This time, the spirit is taken out of the equation altogether and the drink is topped off with soda water. How much or how little soda water is really up to you; we find two ounces or less is just about right for our tastes.
Ingredients
- 30ml Campari
- 30ml Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino
- 60ml soda water (or to taste)
- 1 block of ice
- 1 orange peel (optional)
Tools
- 1 Old Fashioned glass (or rocks glass)
- 1 jigger
- 1 barspoon
Putting it together
- Measure and pour the Campari and sweet vermouth into a glass with ice.
- Stir for about 20 seconds, until everything is cold and there is a light amount of condensation covering the entire outer surface of the glass.
- Add the soda water and give a final swirl or light stir.
- Twist an orange peel to express the oils, then rub it around the rim of the glass.
- Place the orange twist on the rim of the glass as a garnish. Serve.
Perking things up: Coffee negroni
That citrus and coffee go great together is perhaps the oldest piece of news when it comes to all things food.
A coffee negroni is no exception: The orangey flavours of Campari plus the oils from the orange peel get perfectly balanced with just a little coffee liqueur in the mix.
Some recommend dropping the vermouth entirely, but we think it ties everything together, especially Cocchi. This also has a really chocolatey flavour, so a few dashes of cocoa bitters can really make things sing.
Ingredients
- 30ml Tanqueray No 10 gin
- 30ml Campari
- 15ml Cocchi Storico Vermouth di Torino
- 15ml Mr Black coffee liqueur
- 1 block of ice
- 1 orange peel (optional)
- 2 dashes Angostura cocoa bitters
Tools
- 1 Old Fashioned glass (or rocks glass)
- 1 jigger
- 1 barspoon
Putting it together
- Measure and pour the gin, Campari, sweet vermouth and coffee liqueur into a glass with ice. Add the bitters.
- Stir for about 20 seconds, until everything is cold and there is a light amount of condensation covering the entire outer surface of the glass.
- Twist an orange peel to express the oils, then rub it around the rim of the glass.
- Place the orange twist on the rim of the glass as a garnish. Serve.
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