Has everything already been said about the Negroni? It consists of equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari? Is it the unique invention of Count Negroni? – Unfortunately, the answer to all questions is: No. We have gone in search of clues and shed light on the Negroni in the context of the historical sources that enable us to reconstruct the original Negroni. We call this one “Negroni Highball” for better distinction. But of course we will also look at the modern Negroni.
30 ml Eversbusch Doppelwachholder 30 ml Moot vermouth 30 ml House Campari (4 parts Tuvè Bitter, 1 part Campari)
Preparation: Stirred. Serve in a tumbler with a large piece of ice, sprinkle with orange zest.
The original Negroni differs from this recipe. We have described the reconstructed original recipe as Negroni Highball at the end of our post.
Alternatively and currently preferred by us:
30 ml Finsbury 47 Gin 30 ml Antica Torino vermouth di Torino rosso 30 ml La Canellese Bitter (orange zest)
Preparation: 3 ice cubes, stirred for 25 seconds (75 times). Serve without ice, sprinkle with orange zest.
Introduction
At first glance, there is not much new to report about the Negroni; the history of its origins seems to be clear. The majority is of the opinion that the Negroni was an invention of Count Camillo Negroni and originated in Florence around 1919. Some, however, attribute the drink to a Corsican member of the family, another Count Negroni, who is said to have invented the drink in Senegal around 1860. There is general agreement that the Negroni is made from equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari.
However, if one takes a closer look at the historical sources and recipes, some doubts arise about these commonly repeated stories.
Cammillo Luigi Manfredo Maria Negroni was born in Florence on 25 May 1868. He was the son of Count Enrico Negroni and his wife Ada Bishop Savage Landor. [1-9][2-57][3][5] His mother had British roots. Her uncle inherited a handsome fortune, moved to Florence and bought the villa “La Torracia” in San Domenico di Fiesole, where Ada and her husband lived in 1868. [2-57][2-58]
Cammillo’s father died in 1878. At the age of 16, Cammillo joined the military academy in Modena as a cadet. His habit of calling himself Camillo instead of Cammillo may date back to this time. [2-59] He was made a lieutenant, but then had to leave the military to secretly marry a noblewoman who was pregnant by him. He was not yet 21 years old, so was still considered a minor, and both families had made an agreement to avoid a scandal. The lady died, her son remained alive and was given his mother’s surname. [2-60]
There was a falling out between Camillo on the one hand and his mother and her second husband on the other, and so Camillo decided to go to the USA. In 1887 he embarked in Genoa. [2-61] Other sources speak of him going from Genoa to New York on the steamship Fulda in 1892. [3][5] Camillo’s cousin, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, born in 1865, was a painter and writer who travelled to America, Japan, Korea, Russia, China, Australia, Tibet, Nepal, India, Africa and South America at a young age. [2-58][5] One can therefore assume that Camillo Negroni was inspired by this for his later stay in the USA. [2-58]
There are only a few documents and records of Camillo’s time in the USA. An important one appeared in 1928, in which Robert Davis describes his trip to Tuscany. He had got lost in the countryside with his chauffeur. The chauffeur spoke only Italian, and so they could not converse or communicate. Frustrated, Robert Davis left the car and soon met a rider whom he asked for directions. This rider was Camillo Negroni, who had returned to Italy some twenty years earlier. [1-8][1-9][2-61][2-76][2-77][2-78][2-79] In this newspaper article we also learn that Camillo Negroni drove herds through the Yellowstone area in the USA, as far as the Canadian province of Alberta, and worked at the Oxley Ranch. We also learn that he had lost money playing poker.
In 1898 Camillo left the Oxley Ranch and went to New York. There he opened a fencing school at 624 Madison Avenue. [2-64][3][5] On 25 May 1903 he married Anta (Antonetta) Zazworka, in 1904 they both moved to Italy, [2-68] some sources also date the return to 1905, [2-79] to Via Orcagna 36 in Florence. [1-9][2-70]
Back in Florence, Camillo liked to talk in his regular bar about his time as a cowboy, when he drove herds of cattle to the big markets in Canadian Saskatchewan, and about his time in Wyoming, according to the bartender of the time, Fosco Scarselli. [2-63]
Camillo Negroni died on 25 September 1934. [1-11][2-74]
The origin of the Negroni Cocktail
Between 1919 and 1920, the drink that would later become world famous as the Negroni Cocktail was created in Florence. [2-71] The place of origin was the Caffè Casoni, located on the corner of Via de’ Tornabuoni and Via della Spada. [1-8][2-45] This café was probably founded in 1820 as “Drogheria e Profumeria Casoni” [2-45] and was closed between 1932 and 1933. [2-45][2-49] Its premises were taken over by the Caffè Giacosa, which opened in 1934. [2-49]
Camillo Negroni was a regular at Caffè Casoni, the bartender of the time was Fosco Bruno Sabatino Scarselli. The latter was born in 1898, came back to Florence after the First World War, had various jobs and finally got a job at the Caffè Casoni in 1917. [2-47] It is reported that sometime between 1917 and 1920 Camillo entered the bar and asked Fosco to fortify his Americano with gin. [1-8][2-48] From that day on, it is said, Camillo then always ordered “the usual” from Fosco, namely this variation of an Americano. The other guests are said to have become curious and then also ordered an “Americano in the style of Count Negroni”, and so it was not long before the drink was simply called “Negroni”. [2-49]
We have doubts that Camillo asked for the gin to be used. This seems to have been more Fosco’s idea. This can be proved by an article published in the “Gente” on 25 November 1962. In it, Fosco is quoted with the following words: „Beveva l’Americano anche il conte Camillo Negroni, ma lo voleva un po’ più robusto. Io gli aggiungevo qualche goccia di gin (amaro). Il conte era un gran bevitore. C’erano dei giorni che riusciva a inghiottire anche quaranta drinks, eppure non lo vidi mai ubriaco. La sua abitudine di aggiungere qualche goccia di amaro all’Americano, a poco a poco, contagiò gli altri clienti. Venivano da me e mi chiedevano un cocktail come quello del conte. Poi dopo un po’ cominciarono a chiedere: un Negroni. Ecco com nacque la famosa mistura.“[2-52][8] Fosco’s words are: “Count Camillo Negroni also drank the Americano, but he wanted it a little stronger. I added a few drops of (bitter) gin. The count was a big drinker. There were days when he could swallow forty drinks, but I never saw him drunk. His habit of adding a few drops of bitters to the Americano gradually infected other customers. They would come to me and ask for a cocktail like the Count’s. Then, after a while, they asked: a Negroni. That’s how the famous mixture was born.”
Luca Picchi here interprets the term “bitter gin” as “unsweetened gin”. [2-52] We have also heard the interpretation that the writer of the lines might have made a mistake and confused the gin with an amaro, a herbal bitter. There is also the opinion that the gin might have had a different organoleptic expression then than nowadays. However, we disagree. This is not a mistake or a misinterpretation, but literally what was written. The most important ingredient in a gin is juniper. The berries – botanically speaking, the cones – of this plant have a bitter taste, and this is probably an adaptation against being eaten by mammals. [9] This is the key to understanding. What Fosco meant here is a juniper-heavy, i.e. bitter gin. In the following we will look at how the recipe of the original Negroni was constructed and do not want to anticipate this too much. But Fosco himself says he only added a few drops of gin. For these few drops to change the taste of the Americano, it must have been a juniper-strong, possibly even an overproof gin.
When was the Negroni created?
Since Fosco Scarselli was also present at the creation of the Negroni, and Fosco only came to Florence in 1917, the drink must have been created between 1917 and 1920, because there is a letter from 1920 which mentions the Negroni. [2-84] From Florence, the Negroni is said to have spread to Milan and Rome. [2-90]
Other sources also attest to the origin of the drink in Florence. Legal disputes arose at the end of the 1950s because a certain Mr Negroni (one not mentioned in our article so far) marketed a bottled “Old Negroni Cocktail”. He was sued by Campari to stop this and Campari won the case. During the trial, numerous witnesses, including Fosco, stated that the Negroni had been invented in Florence in the 1920s and that the bottled drink was not the original Negroni. [2-51] Interestingly, they stated that this was only in the 1920s, and not between 1917 and 1920. However, there is a letter, which we discuss below, according to which the Negroni must have existed in 1920.
What was the original volume of the Negroni and what was the recipe?
Fosco is not the only one to report that the Count drank many Negronis, up to 40 a day. Francis Harper also knows about the Count’s drinking habits. He was a London antique dealer and friend of the Count. On 13 October 1920, he wrote a letter saying: “My Dear Negroni, … you must not take more than 20 Negronis in one day.” [1-14][2-84][2-85][3]. So this letter not only proves that the Negroni already existed in 1920, but also that the Count drank more than 20 Negronis a day.
It is said that the Negroni consists of equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari, that is the generally stated formula. Luca Picchi also says so. [2-84] He justifies this by saying that Camillo lived in New York for a long time and was probably also familiar with the cocktail culture there, and therefore probably suggested adding gin to the Americano. Against this background, one could well imagine that the Negroni was prepared from equal parts from the beginning. [2-89] However, this is contradicted by Fosco’s statement that the count only asked for something stronger, and he, Fosco, then added gin to the Americano.
However, Luca Picchi has doubts about the quantity served, because the count is said to have drunk 20 to 40 Negronis a day without being drunk afterwards. [2-52][2-84] As an explanation for this, Luca Picchi says that the Negroni must have been served in small glasses at that time. [2-85] The drink was not served in an old-fashioned glass, as is common today, but rather in a small cordial glass with a 3 cl capacity. This glass was very popular at the time, and vermouth, ratafia, elixirs and bitters were served in it. With this assumption, according to the author, the amount of negronis drunk by the count becomes more plausible. [2-85][2-86] But let us extrapolate: this would still result in a total of 0.4 litres each of these ingredients with equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari, i.e. more than 13 Negronis today, if one assumes the use of 30 ml each of the ingredients for this one. We therefore do not believe that the Count could have drunk this amount in one day, more or less daily, without ever appearing drunk or being considered an alcoholic. The use of a small glass is plausible from our point of view. Incidentally, the use of small glasses has a long tradition in Italy. Michel de Montaigne reported from Florence in 1580: “The German bad habit of drinking from excessively large glasses has been reversed here: only unusually small ones are used.” [20-155] However, using a recipe of equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari is not plausible – which can also be proven. So what did the original recipe presumably look like? So let us first summarise what we can read about it in the literature before we later analyse the traditional recipes ourselves – and come to partly different conclusions.
The quantity of gin
Fosco himself states that he added a few drops of bitter gin to the Americano. [2-52][8] The statement that he only used a few drops of gin seems incomprehensible, since a few drops do not affect the aroma – unless you only prepare small amounts – and you use a juniper-heavy one. The thesis that the Americano and the first Negroni were served in small cordial glasses offers a fitting explanation here. How much is to be understood by a few drops remains to be seen. We will come back to this later. It could well have been half a bar spoon or a whole bar spoon. We opted for 15 ml – so that the juniper flavours are also perceptible.
The use of soda
In the following we use soda and seltzer synonymously. Some sources report that soda belongs in an Americano or Negroni, others write seltzer. Soda water is water enriched with carbon dioxide and belongs to the group of alkaline acidulants. Because it usually contains sodium hydrogen carbonate, it tastes slightly soapy like lye. Well-known soda waters come from Fachingen, Karlsbad, Marienbad, Niederselters and Vichy. [15] Seltzer, also called Selterswasser, Selters or Selterwasser, originally referred to a mineral water from the springs in Niederselters in central Hesse. This water is an alkaline-muriatic acidulous water, i.e. a mineral water that is alkaline due to its sodium hydrogen carbonate content and contains sodium chloride, with a natural carbonic acid content of over 250 mg/l. However, the brand name “Selters” has taken on a life of its own, has become a generic name and is often used synonymously with mineral water. [16] In order to avoid confusion with simple mineral water in the following, we prefer the term soda.
It should be emphasised at this point first of all that Fosco did not talk about swapping soda for gin. He only says that he added a few drops of gin to the Americano. [2-52][8] So soda must have been present in the original Negroni.
The use of soda in the Negroni is nothing unusual and goes back to an older tradition. Back then, vermouth was often served with a shot of soda, especially during the hot season. Campari was also regularly served with it, long before the 1920s. So was the mixture of vermouth and Campari, as an Americano. [2-88] So it is only logical to prepare the original Negroni, intended as an aperitif, the Americano with a little bit of gin, also with soda. Moreover, the use of soda – according to Luca Picchi – opens up the aromas and reduces the alcohol content. [2-88]
In “Footlose in Italy”, published in 1950, the author Horace Sutton describes a series of Italian drinks. The Negroni is also included, and it is made with vermouth, Campari, gin and soda: „If you want to drink native there is always vermouth and soda which is light and as nonalcoholic as you can get without ordering an orange crush. An Americano, which bears no relation to anything American, is vermouth, soda and campari – a scarlet-colored bitters. I have it on good authority that an Americano is called Americano because it is a mixed drink, a bit of alcoholic chemistry for which the Americani are apparently well noted abroad. For mor formidable fortification try a Negroni – vermouth, campari, seltzer and gin – or a Cardinale – a Martini with campari which turns it red.“[6][7][10]
There is another source that says that a Negroni should have soda. We will go into this one below, because it also tells us about the ice.
The ice
The question of whether the Negroni was originally served “on the rocks” is debatable. If this was the case, Luca Picchi suggests, a small “Piedmontese” glass with a capacity of 4.5 cl could have been used. [2-86] Refrigeration technology was not yet widespread in Italy at that time as it was in other countries. Therefore, in Italy, natural ice usually had to be stored in specially built rooms. The use of ice stored in this way has a long tradition in Italy, also in Florence. [2-87] Since the end of the 18th century, drinks chilled with ice were enjoyed there in the summer months, even by the general public. [2-112] Around 1920, there were still several companies in Florence offering ice from the mountains for sale. [2-114]
However, we do not believe that the Negroni was originally served with ice, and the use of ice to cool the Negroni can also be doubted in principle. It does not seem to have been stirred. That is how it is handed down to us. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were three places in Florence where cocktails were prepared. One of them was the “Orologio” in Via Por Santa Maria. It was run by Gerardo Lotti, [2-93] and his son describes a scene when his father prepared Negronis as follows: “Everyone watched him, solemnly shake the three bottles, one after another. It was like an intense collective concentration, everyone participating up until the splash of seltzer, which penetrated the cocktail right to the bottom of the glass, as if he had added its soul by mere mixing of ingredients. That splash of seltzer, which replaced the cocktail mixing spoon, was a liberating act. The Negroni was now complete and everyone resumed their concentrations“. [2-94]
So we gather from this description that the Negroni in Florence was not stirred, so it could not have been chilled by ice, and it was not served on ice. In addition, a dash of soda was added here as well.
The orange
The orange may not have been added from the beginning but at a later date, but a use from the beginning would also be plausible. But Luca Picchi says that it is impossible to say for sure. [2-88]
Campari
Actually, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Campari must also be used in a Negroni, and that it is not interchangeable. That’s what we hear again and again. However, as we will explain later, we have substituted it for ourselves. Is it then still a Negroni? This much can be said at this point: it is not proven whether Campari was used at all in the original Negroni. Despite his extensive research, Luca Picchi cannot say with certainty whether Campari was used at all in the first Negroni: „The history and evolution of this extraordinary product [Bitter] are a source of national pride. The widespread availability of Campari from the early years of the twentieth century allows us to say that the first Negroni was mostly likely prepared with the Campari Bitter.” [2-195] However, he also writes that we should not forget that in the second half of the nineteenth century there were other bitters besides Campari that were “equaly comparable“, such as Gamoni, Moroni, Martini and Bonomelli, but none of them “has been able to counter the entrepreneurial strength of Campari“. He therefore deduces that the hypothesis [!] that the first Negroni was prepared with Campari is well-founded and is also supported by numerous documents that prove that Campari was delivered to Florence in 1920: “This means that the hypothesis that the first Negroni was made with Campari Bitter is well founded, as well as supported by a lot of documentation that attests to the steady and periodic distribution of this product in Florence in the 1920s.”[2-207]
We can confirm this from our own experience: It doesn’t have to be Campari. We prefer another bitter, the Berto Bitter. Of course, it’s a question of taste. In any case, we like the Berto Bitter better; it is more aromatic and complex, less sweet. Proof that we are right in our choice is this: We have always quibbled a little with the balance of Negroni and always preferred it served on ice, because cold makes imbalances disappear. With Berto Bitter, on the other hand, we have found that it is better without ice.
The Americano – predecessor of the Negroni
We have now reported a lot about the Negroni, but have not yet taken a closer look at the Americano as its predecessor. We should do so at this point. First of all, it is worth remembering that at the end of the nineteenth century, the so-called vermouth hour was celebrated in Florentine cafés. It was, so to speak, the afternoon programme of the gentlemen. A Turin vermouth, Vermouth di Torino, was served. [1-4][2-40] At that time, bitter liqueurs were also spreading, and it soon became fashionable to combine vermouth and bitters. The Americano was born. [1-4][2-40] The Frenchman Émile Leveuvre describes it in 1889 under the name ‘Vermouth de Turin au Fernet Branca’ as a mixture of Turin vermouth, Fernet Branca and soda water, served in a glass with ice. He adds that this is the preferred aperitif in Italy. [18-40] However, one should not lose sight of the fact that the term “Americano” did not so much refer to a clearly defined drink with fixed ingredients, but was rather understood as the concept of preparing and drinking a cocktail in the American way. [1-4][2-41]
Arnaldo Strucchi: Il vermouth di Torino, 1909, page 104.
We also refer to Arnaldo Strucchi’s treatise “Il vermouth di Torino” as evidence for this statement. In the 1909 edition it says on page 104: „VERMOUTH AL BITTER O AMERICANO. – E’ detto americano, perchè negli Stati Uniti si ha l’usanza di bere il Vermouth mescolato con liquori amari e gin (cohiskey) formando una bibita chiamata « coktail ». “ The author explains that vermouth with bitters is also called Americano because it is the custom in the United States to drink vermouth mixed with bitter liqueurs and gin (or whiskey), and that this drink is called a cocktail.
The predecessor of the Americano, it is also said, is the Milano Torino. The latter was fashionable in Italian cafés for a long time. It is a mixture of Milanese Campari and Turin vermouth and is said to have originated in the 1860s at the Caffè Camparino in Milan. If you add a little soda, it is explained, you get an Americano. [1-4][6] The Americano would have received this name because it is said to have been very popular with American tourists. Alternatively, it is said that the Milano Torino already contained soda. [6]
Be that as it may, what exactly a Milano-Torino or an Americano is, we want to shed more light on in a separate article. For us, something else is interesting at this point. Not where the Americano comes from, but what was meant by it in the 1920s. To clarify this question we have consulted the book “Mille Misture”, published in 1936. [13] In this book there are numerous different recipes. Among the long drinks, the author Elvezio Grassi lists them. Among them are numerous different combinations, all prepared with vermouth, bitters and soda. Campari, Fernet Branca or other amari are used as bitters. Here we will only look at the recipes with Campari, which are listed from page 145 onwards.
Americano Accossato (Ape- ritivo). Versare in un calice aperitivo: 20% Bitter Campari 40% Vermouth rosso Accos- sato 40% Seltz fresco. Servite con buccia limone.
Americano Ballor (Aperiti- vo) . Si versa in un calice aperitivo: 10% Bitter Campari 40% Vermouth rosso Ballor 50% Seltz fresco. Servite con buccia limone.
Americano Campari (Aperi- tivo). Si versa in un calice aperitivo: 10% Vermouth Torino (dolce) 40% Bitter Campari 50% Seltz fresco. Servite con buccia limone.
Americano Cinzano (Aperi- tivo). Si versa in un calice aperitivo: 20% Bitter Campari 30% Vermouth Rosso Cinzano 50% Seltz fresco. Lo si serve con buccia limone.
Americano Cora (Aperitivo). Si versa in un calice aperitivo: 10% Bitter Campari 30% Vermouth Cora 60% Seltz fresco. Lo si serve con buccia limone.
Americano Martini e Rossi (Aperitivo). Si versa in un calice aperitivo: 20% Bitter Campari 30% Vermouth Martini e Rossi 50% Seltz fresco. Lo si serve con buccia limone.
It is noticeable here that the proportions vary.
The ratio of Campari, vermouth and soda certainly depends on personal taste and the brands used. However, if we take the average of the recipes mentioned as a best approximation, we will certainly not be completely wrong. This average means that an Americano should be made from 15% Campari, 35% vermouth and 50% soda.
However, there is a branch of the Negroni family that claims that it was not Camillo Negroni who invented the Negroni in Florence, because there was no Camillo Negroni, but their ancestor when he was in Senegal. At least that’s how Noel Negroni claims it. His ancestor, General Pascal Olivier Count of Negroni, was the one who invented the Negroni Cocktail, [1-11][3][5] in Senegal. [3] The General was born on 4 April 1829 in the castle of San Colombano, in Rogliano in Corsica and died on 22 October 1912 in Alençon in Normandy. [1-11][3] He joined the French army at the age of 18 and retired after 44 years as a brigardier-general. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he received the Officer’s Cross of the Imperial Legion of Honour from Emperor Louis-Napoléon for his services in the Battle of Wörth. [1-11][3][11]
Noel Negroni states: “Pascal Olivier was the reputed inventor of the famous‚ Negroni Cocktail‘ (equal parts of Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth, served in a short glass over ice and garnished with an orange slice).”[1-11] So Pascal Olivier was the inventor of the famous ‘Negroni cocktail’, made from equal parts of Campari, gin and sweet vermouth, served in a tumbler on ice and with a slice of orange.
Letter by Pascal Negroni from 1886. (c) Hector Negroni. [3]
Pascal Olivier was stationed in the town of Lunéville during the Franco-Prussian War and, as a high-ranking noble officer, was often in a position to host soirées. At one of these soirées – around 1870 – Pascal is said to have introduced his vermouth-based drink to the officers in Lunéville.[3] There is a letter from 1886 that Pascal Olivier wrote to his older brother Roche. It says: “D’ailleurs sais-tu que le cocktail que j’ai inventé á Saint Louis á base de Vermouth fait un malheur au bal des officiers de Lunéville?“, “By the way, do you know that the cocktail I invented in Saint Louis based on vermouth is a hit at the officers’ ball in Lunéville?” [3]
It is said that this drink was developed in honour of Pascal Olivier Negroni’s marriage to Blanche Gérard-Fontallard, which took place on 6 May 1857. At that time, Pascal was a commander in the French colony of Saint Louis in Senegal. He was stationed there from 1855 to 1865. In order to support this claim with further evidence, a member of the Negroni family travelled to Senegal to search for them. [3] They found descendants of the general’s staff and asked them for family lore. These were as follows:
Dr Maurice Ousselin was a pharmacist who treated French officers, and his descendant A. W. Bencheroun reports that he had access to the officers’ mess around 1860 and often mentioned the invention of the Negroni Cocktail by a certain “Captain de Negroni”. Mr Ousselin also remembered his mother’s brother, who was close to the French colonial authorities and who also liked to talk about the Negroni cocktail. [3]
Another person reports that she has been working as a barmaid in Saly, Senegal, for the last 10 years and that the Negroni cocktail is very popular in Senegal. There is a tradition in her family. Her great-grandfather owned a textile factory in Senegal around 1860, from which the French army procured uniforms. Her grandmother became good friends with many French officers, one of whom was Captain de Negroni. He had given her a saddle that was still in the family. The captain had married a young lady and created a drink of gin and vermouth ( Martini), and she had added Campari [3] – although the source from which we have this information does not define exactly who “she” would be, the bride, or the grandmother. So Negroni’s drink seems to have consisted only of gin and vermouth? That would be something like a Martinez or Martini cocktail that lacks the bitters. However, this is only invented in the USA around 1884, and we don’t hear anything about it in Europe before that date either. In any case, we think it is very unusual that the Martinez cocktail should have been invented in Senegal some twenty years before the USA.
Campari was also only founded in Italy in 1860. [4] It is therefore rather unlikely that it was already available in Senegal at the time of the wedding in 1857. The same applies to the vermouth from Martini that was allegedly used. The company Martini Sola e Cia, called Martini & Rossi after 1879, was founded in 1863, [14] so that this vermouth could definitely not have been available at the wedding. Here, different memories and facts seem to be mixed up in the family lore.
As early as 1980, it was suspected that the Negroni was a “Corsican” cocktail. On 2 February 1980, an article appeared in the “Corse Matin” asking whether the Negroni was a Corsican cocktail, and it was said that it had been invented by the Rogliano-born General Pascal Negroni. He would have had the idea for this divine mixture of equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari, and that this happened in Paris at the St. Augustine Officers’ Club on the “eve of the Great War”, probably meaning the First World War here. [3][5] According to this article, that would have been 1914. There is nothing here about 1857 in Senegal. However, 1914 cannot be right either, because the Count’s letter to his brother mentions the vermouth-based cocktail as early as 1886. Moreover, the Count died almost two years before the war began.
We cannot understand why Pascal Olivier Negroni should have invented the Negroni Cocktail, which consists of gin, vermouth and Campari. This seems to be wishful thinking. We can safely assume that he invented a drink that contained vermouth, probably in Senegal on the occasion of his wedding; this drink may also have been called “Negroni”. However, that is all that can be said with certainty.
Analysis of the historical recipes
There are numerous contradictory legends about who invented the Negroni, and there are also many discussions about how exactly a Negroni should be prepared. To shed light on this, it is necessary to analyse the historical recipes. This is the only way to make a well-founded statement. The historical recipes we found are listed in the appendix. We have not only included those that call themselves Negroni, but all those that are prepared with vermouth, Campari and gin. This is the only way to get a complete picture. In the following, we ask ourselves various questions that help to better understand the Negroni.
Question 1: What are the names of the historical recipes?
The Negroni is always presented as something unique, as a stroke of genius that Fosco Scarselli and Camillo Negroni had in Florence. Is this really the case?
We have analysed the historical recipes with vermouth, Campari and gin. We do not ask the question about the proportions here, nor do we distinguish whether soda is used or what garnish is used in addition. According to the secondary sources, this cannot be answered unambiguously even for a Negroni, and so we have to consider the whole spectrum as equivalent for the time being.
So let’s list the different names together with their components and year of publication:
Amapola Cocktail (Gin, Campari, vermouth) 1963
Aquel Club Cocktail (vermouth, gin, Campari, orange bitter, lemon zest) 1936
Za Za Cocktail (Vermouth, Gin, Campari, cherry) 1927
What can be deduced from this? The first recipe with the name Negroni appeared in 1939 (as Negrone). 24 similar recipes appeared before that, under 16 different names. In the next decade, between 1940 and 1949, a Negroni appears once, in 1949, but between 1940 and 1949, 19 similar recipes appear under 14 different names. Only from 1950 onwards can we say that about half of the recipes bear the name Negroni, between 1970 and 1979 about two thirds. We can see from this that it was by no means taken for granted that a combination of gin, vermouth and Campari should be called a Negroni, as it is thought to be today.
Negroni – Naming.
What we can also deduce from the multitude of different names is the following: The use of Campari as a bitter in a cocktail of vermouth and gin was practically in the air from 1920 onwards. It was nothing unique. We have already quoted Arnaldo Strucchi’s monograph on vermouth, which describes precisely this: One uses an amaro as a bitter in a cocktail. In a way, a Negroni made without soda is something like an Italian-inspired Martini cocktail. We went into more detail on the use of Campari as a bitter substitute in our article on the Boulevardier, so we can refer to it here.
What we also have to say at this point: There is no clear historical evidence that the combination of gin, vermouth and Campari should be called Negroni, on the grounds that this is the name of the drink that first used this combination. It can be proved with certainty that a cocktail later called Negroni by customers existed in Florence as early as 1920, and that it must have been created from 1917 onwards. The first mention of a Negroni in a cocktail book, however, is not until 1939, but the first mention of a similar recipe in a cocktail book can be found as early as 1927, as Hoffman-House Cocktail, Julio Cocktail, Lone Tree Cocktail, Loving, Mussolini or Za Za Cocktail. We can assume that these drinks were already known for quite some time before publication in a book, and so it is quite conceivable that one of them is older than the Negroni.
At this point, however, we do not want to dispute the designation of Negroni for the combination of gin, vermouth and Campari. That is the name by which the drink is generally known today, and that is how it should remain. Nor do we want to discuss here which alternative name would be correct. For example, a Zaza cocktail is nothing other than a Dubonnet cocktail, both names are used synonymously, and the designation of a gin-vermouth-Campari cocktail with this name is therefore not permissible. It may be similar with the other names. However, as we will conclude later, this is not really interesting.
Question 2: Is a Negroni served with ice?
Another question that has been asked before is whether a Negroni is historically correct to serve with or without ice. As we have established, the Negroni was originally served without ice. But what do the recipes say?
Negroni – The use of ice in the guest glass.
If you look at which Negroni recipes are served with ice and which without, there is no uniform picture. So both are permissible, depending on taste. Basically, one can only state that a Negroni, if it is prepared with soda as a highball, always contains ice.
Question 3: Is a Negroni prepared with soda?
As we have discovered, the Negroni in Florence was originally not only served without ice, but also prepared with soda. Is this reflected in the recipes?
Negroni – The use of soda.
As with ice, there is no uniform picture here either. Many recipes use soda, even more do without it. So you cannot deduce from the recipes that a Negroni must be prepared without soda. Although this is generally the case today, it was not the case in the past.
Question 4: What proportions should you use?
The basic rule today is that a Negroni consists of equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari. Do the historical recipes also see it that way? The following picture emerges, whereby it should be added that it makes no difference whether soda is added or not. The diagram shows the ratio between gin, vermouth and Campari. The oldest recipe is on the left, the most recent on the right.
Negroni – Proportions.
As you can see, there are slight differences, but basically gin, vermouth and Campari are used in equal proportions. On average, 33.7 % gin, 34.4 % vermouth and 31.9 % Campari are used.
Question 5: Must Campari be used in a Negroni?
We explained in our article on the Boulevardier, we explained why we replaced Campari. The same applies to the Negroni. The reasons that led us to do this are of a more topical nature. We have already explained that there is no evidence that Campari was used in the original Negroni. However, it should be mentioned here that it can be deduced from the numerous recipes from the 1920s that are comparable to the Negroni that Campari was most probably also used for the original Negroni (as well as for the Americano). Nevertheless, there are recipes that do not use Campari but an alternative bitter. These were published in 1951, 1953, 1964, 1966, 1969 and 1980. Even though Campari can be considered the standard, it seems that other bitters may be used.
Question 6: What garnish is used in a Negroni?
Luca Picchi thinks that it is plausible that the orange has been part of a Negroni from the beginning, but that nothing can be said for sure. [2-88] At this point we want to disagree. Let us start with the Americano. This was apparently always served with a lemon zest, at least this is the case with all the recipes from “Mille Misture”. It is therefore obvious that a Negroni, as a variation of an Americano, was also prepared with a lemon zest.
Negroni – Garnish.
If we analyse the historical recipes, we can see that a lemon is mentioned 20 times (lemon zest 17 times, lemon slice 3 times). Orange appears 19 times (orange zest 8 times, orange slice 11 times). Far behind is cherry, mentioned twice, and once even lime zest is used. It should be noted that these garnishes can be combined with each other.
So it is by no means certain that the use of orange would be plausible. There is much to suggest that it was rather the lemon zest, because this was already used in the Americano. But orange has also found its place, and its use is obvious to support the orange flavours of Campari. In that sense, you can use both.
Question 7: What other variations are there?
There are basically no other ingredients for a Negroni. The only deviation is the indication in 1951 that one should add a dash of Angostura Bitters, in 1977 the addition of a dash of bitters is indicated as optional.
Question 8: Which vermouth should be used?
At this point we would also like to mention the vermouth to be used. This must, of course, correctly be a Turin vermouth, i.e. a sweet, Italian vermouth. Some people use Punt e Mes instead. Strictly speaking, this is not a Turin vermouth, but a mixture of Turin vermouth with an additional amaro. Incidentally, there are historical recipes that also give preference to Punt e Mes, namely 1959, 1960, 1965, and 1966.
Conclusion on the modern Negroni
So, after analysing the recipes, we can better define how a (modern) Negroni should be prepared. In this, we come to somewhat different conclusions than those published in the secondary literature.
The modern Negroni is prepared with three equal parts Campari, red (Italian) vermouth and gin. It is stirred on ice and then served either without ice cubes or with ice cubes in a tumbler. The latter has gradually become the preferred option, and we also prefer our Negroni with ice. The Negroni can be garnished with orange or lemon zest, or slices, although this was probably only used in the past because the use of fruit was considered fashionable; just remember the Old Fashioneds served as fruit salad. In any case, we only recommend the zest. The use of the lemon zest certainly goes back to the Americano. We prefer the orange zest to support the orange flavours of the Campari.
But this is the modern way of preparing it. We now want to reconstruct the original Negroni, which, by the way, is a tasty variant that should not be underestimated.
The Negroni Highball
Negroni Highball.
40 ml Antica Formula vermouth 20 ml House Campari (4 parts Tuvè Bitter, 1 part Campari) 10 ml Royal Dock navy strength gin 50 Thomas Henry soda
Preparation: Prepare as a highball.
Alternatively and currently preferred by us:
40 ml Antica Torino rosso vermouth 20 ml La Canellese Bitter 15 ml Finsbury 47 Gin 50 ml Thomas Henry Soda
Preparation: 3 ice cubes, built in a highball glass.
Based on our analysis, it has not only become clearer what a “modern” Negroni is, but also how to imagine the original Negroni. As an Americano made with a little gin, not stirred on ice and not served with ice, and probably without any garnish.
Can anything tasty be reconstructed with this information? We have already briefly discussed the Americano and have established that an average Americano consists of 15% Campari, 35% vermouth and 50% soda. In Mille Misture, the book on which we based this analysis, the Americano is always garnished with a lemon zest. So presumably this will also have been the garnish for a Negroni, if one was used at all. We do not know how the Americano was served in Florence. But let’s assume, for the sake of experiment, that it would have been served in the average proportions determined, namely 15% Campari, 35% vermouth and 50% soda.
The quantities for an Americano, calculated down to 30 ml, are approx. 5 ml (4.5 ml) Campari, 10 ml (10.5 ml) vermouth, 15 ml soda. Let us now return to the statement by Fosco Scarselli, who stated that he had added a few drops of gin to the Americano. What exactly did he mean by that? For the sake of simplicity, let’s equate the drop meant here more or less with a dash, which – as we explained in post on the dash – is equivalent to about 1.25 ml. If we also take into account that the gin content must be lower than that of Campari – otherwise Fosco would have said that he had taken just as much gin as Campari – then we might be talking about 2.5 ml of gin. Fosco pointed out that he used a “bitter” gin – which we translated into a juniper-strong overproof gin.
Put all this together and you get the following recipe for a 30 ml Negroni: 5 ml Campari, 10 ml vermouth, 2.5 ml gin and 12.5 ml soda. This results in a fairly low-alcohol mixture, and if it is served in 30 ml glasses, one can certainly drink 40 of them occasionally, as the Count is said to have done. The alcohol content is around 14%, and the total volume of 40 would be 1.2 litres.
Negroni – Modern and original presumed recipe.
To illustrate this, let’s convert this ratio to today’s Negronis. Today’s Negroni consists of 30 ml Campari, 30 ml vermouth and 30 ml gin. Strictly speaking, you also have to add the meltwater, which adds perhaps 30%, i.e. about 30 ml. In total, 120 ml.
If we extrapolate the original Negroni to 120 ml for a better comparison, we get 20 ml Campari, 40 ml vermouth, 10 ml gin and 50 ml soda. The difference is not really that big, and yet the result is a completely different drink. It’s easy to think of the original Negroni as a highball. A highball is prepared with ice, and so we suggest using ice as well, in deviation from the “original”.
Negroni Highball.
We tried this reconstruction, of course, and it is very tasty. We did without a lemon or orange zest, but you can add it optionally. Compared to an Americano, the additional gin is subtly noticeable, but without dominating too much. At the same time, the drink thus remains low in alcohol and retains its Italian character as an aperitivo.
If one wants to be historically correct, this reconstruction should actually be called “Negroni”, and the Negroni common today should actually have a different name, because as we can see from the historical sources, only the use of soda makes the Negroni a Negroni. But history has decided otherwise, and so we propose to call the original version simply “Negroni Highball”. A designation that has also occasionally appeared in historical recipes, first in 1966 by Oscar Haimo.
When and why was the recipe of the Negroni changed?
So, as we can prove, the Negroni was originally an aperitif with lots of vermouth and Campari, with soda and some gin, probably served in 3 cl glasses, served without ice in the glass and prepared without stirring on ice.
As we have seen from the analysis of the recipes, the recipe of the Negroni as given in the books is different from the original one.
What interests us here is the question of why this recipe change took place. We don’t know, but we have a guess. At some point, the Negroni was named Campari’s signature drink. Even today, Campari advertises this drink very intensively. But already in the fifties of the last century, Campari must have claimed the drink for itself, because why else would they have sued the producer of the bottled “Old Negroni Cocktail” and insisted that this bottling was not a Negroni.
Campari Cocktail. The New Yorker, 13. October 1956, page 199. [17]
On 13 October 1956, an advertisement by Austin, Nichols & Co. of New York appeared in “The New Yorker” on page 199. It advertises Campari with a signature drink. We read there: „The Campari Cocktail (also called Negroni). The World Connoisseur’s Cocktail.“ The recipe is equal parts Campari, sweet vermouth and gin. And it is called the Campari Cocktail, which is historically correct, as the recipe of the original Negroni was clearly different, but they add as a note that this cocktail is also called the Negroni. [2-98][17] The Negroni cocktail first appeared in the US in newspaper articles and in bars after World War 2. [1-x]. Also, the Negroni does not actually appear in recipe books until the 1950s. In our opinion, this is probably due to the fact that the Campari Cocktail a.k.a. Negroni was massively advertised by Campari. As part of this advertising campaign, the recipe of the Negroni was changed, the Campari content was increased and the drink was adapted to American drinking habits. While the original Negroni was still anchored in the Italian aperitif culture, low in alcohol and prepared with soda, it was now more alcoholic and adapted to American drinking habits.
The Negroni probably became famous in America because, according to one interpretation, war returnees brought the Italian aperitif culture back with them after the Second World War. The recipe was adapted to the drinking habits prevailing there. People were already used to more alcoholic drinks, because the Martini Cocktail was already drunk as an aperitif. [19] Robert Simonson, however, disagrees. He writes that the Negroni was not very well known to the general public even in the late 1950s. It only became better known when it was reported that celebrities were drinking it. In the 1970s, however, it disappeared from the consciousness until the 1990s, when it was practically non-existent. He continues by saying: “When Italian bartender Francesco Lafranconi – who transplanted to Las Vegas to work for Southern Wine and Spirits (now Southern Glazer’s) – led a class for local bartenders in 2001, one of the the questions on the six-page exam was, ›What’s in a Negroni?‹ That was considered a toughie. Nimety percent of the students had no idea. … By the 2010s, riffs on the drink were doing their part to boost the profile of the mother cocktail. … The result of all these twining trends? Today, not only are there Negronis served at most American bars.” [21-48][21-49]
Sources
Gaz Regan: The Negroni. Drinking to a dolce vita. ISBN 978-1-60774-779-6. Ten Speed Press, 2015.
Luca Picchi: Negroni Cocktail – An Italian Legend. ISBN 978-88-09-80618-4. Florenz & Mailand, Giunti Editore, 2015.
Émile Lefeuvre: Méthode pour composer soi-même les boissons américaines, anglaises, italienes, etc. Cent-soixante formules a l’usage de MM. les Limonadiers, Restaurateurs, Maîtres d’Hôtels, Chefs de Buffets, Chefs de Bars, Maisons bourgeoises, etc. : Augmentée d’un questionnaire anglais-français, contenant 250 Demandes et Résponses les plus usuelles aux Limonadiers, Restaurateurs, et Maîtres d’Hôtels. Paris, ohne Jahr (1889).
Michel de Montaigne: Tagebuch einer Reise nach Italien über die Schweiz und Deutschland von 1580 bis 1581. ISBN 978-3-8477-0349-5. Die Andere Bibliothek, Band 349. Berlin 2014,
Robert Simonson: From bust to boom. How the Negroni (slowly) became an American cocktail icon. In: Imbibe 93, September/Oktober 2021.
Negroni.
Historical recipes
1927 Jean Lupoiu: 370 recettes de cocktails. Seite 49. Hoffman-House Cocktail.
1 jet Orange Bitters, 1/3 Vermouth Noilly Prat, 2/3 Nicholson Gin. Bien mélanger et servir avec un zeste d’orange.
1927 Jean Lupoiu: 370 recettes de cocktails. Seite 56. Julio Cocktail.
3 jets Bitter Campari , 1/ 6 Rossi, 1/6 Vermouth Cinzano, 2/3 Gin. (Inventé par l’Auleur, en l’honneur de M. Haag, Directeur du journal l’Opinion).
1927 Jean Lupoiu: 370 recettes de cocktails. Seite 62. Lone Tree Cocktail.
1/3 Vermouth N . P., 1/3 Cinzano, 1/3 Gin. Servir avec un zeste de citron.
1927 Marcel Requien & Lucien Farnoux Reynaud: L’Heure du Cocktail. Seite 56. Loving.
1/2 Gin, 1/2 Vermouth blanc Gancia, deux traits Amer Campari. Frapper à la timbale. Communiqué par Primo (Primo’s bar, Paris).
1927 Marcel Requien & Lucien Farnoux Reynaud: L’Heure du Cocktail. Seite 56. Mussolini.
1/2 Gin, 3/10 Vermouth italien 2/10 Bitter Campari. Frapper à la timbale et exprimer un jus de citron. Communiqué par Charlie Castelloni. (Hermitage, Paris)
1927 Piero Grandi: Cocktails. Seite 59. Za Za Cocktail.
2 gouttes de Campari Bitter, 1/3 de Nichol- son Gin, 2/3 de Cinzano Vermouth Italien. Mé- langez bien, versez dans un verre à Cocktail, seryez avec un cherry.
1929 Anonymus: Cocktails de Paris préséntes par RIP. Camparinette.
1/4 Campari 1/4 Vermouth italien Cora 1/2 Gordon Gin Servir avec un zeste de citron ALBERT, du «Chatam».
1929 Anonymus: Cocktails de Paris préséntes par RIP. Charlie Pie.
1/2 Gordon Gin 3/8 Vermouth italien 1/8 Campari
1930 Edgar Baudoin: Les Meilleurs Cocktails. Seite 19. July Cocktail.
1930 Harry McElhone: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. Seite 83. Tunnel Cocktail.
1/3 Gin,1/3 Campari, 1/6 Italian Vermouth, 1/6 French Vermouth. Shake well, strain into cocktail glass and squeeze orange peel on top. This cocktail was awarded Prix d’Honneur at the International Bar-tenders’ Contest, Paris, 1929. (Recipe by Bob Card, Harry’s New York Bar, Paris.)
1934 Harry McElhone: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. Seite 83. Quill Cocktail.
1/3 Campari, 1/3 Rossi, 1/3 Gin, 1 dash of Absinthe. (Frank C. Payne, New York.)
1934 Harry McElhone: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. Seite 99. Tunnel Cocktail.
1/3 Gin,1/3 Campari, 1/6 Italian Vermouth, 1/6 French Vermouth. Shake well, strain into cocktail glass and squeeze Orange Peel on top. This cocktail was awarded Prix d’Honneur at the International Bar-tenders’ Contest, Paris, 1929. (Recipe by Bob Card, Harry’s New York Bar, Paris.)
1934 William T. Boothby: „Cocktail Bill“ Boothby’s World Drinks. Seite 39. Camparinete.
1935 O. Blunier: The Barkeeper’s Golden Book. Seite 144. Tunnel.
1/6 Italian Vermouth 1/6 French Vermouth 1/3 Campari 1/3 Gin squeeze Orange peel
1936 Raymond Porta Mingot: Gran Manual de Cocktails. Seite 338. Aquel Club Cocktail.
Usese la cocktelera. Unos pedacitos de hielo. 4 gotas de Bitter Orange. 1/4 parte de Bitter Campari. 1/4 parte de Dry Gin Sumner’s. 2/4 parte de Vermouth Francés Noilly Prat. Agítese, cuélese y sírvase en copa de 100 gramos con una cascarita de limón.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 26. Astoria Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Vermouth Martini dry, 2/3 de Booth’s Yellow Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 69. Futurity Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Gampari, 1/3 de Martini Vermouth doux, 2/3 Seager’s Spécial Dry Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 78. Hoffman House Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Ver- mouth Martini sec, 2/3 de Gordon’s Dry Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 86. Julio Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Gampari, 1/6 de Rossi, 1/6 Martini Vermouth sec, 2/3 de Booth’s Yellow Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 94. Lone Tree Cocktail.
Dans le shaker: 2 jets de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Martini Vermouth doux, 1/6 de Martini Vermouth sec, 2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin. Agiter légèrement et servir.
1939 Anonymus: Cuna del Daiquiri Cocktail. Seite 44. Negrone.
1 Six ounces glass full of Ice. 1/4 Campari Bitter. 1/2 Dry Gin. 1/2 Vermouth Bitter. 1/2 Vermouth. Serve it with cherry after squeez- ing an orange pee!.
Vaso fino de seis onzas lleno de hielo. 1/4 de Bitter Campari. 1/2 de Ginebra. 1/2 de Vermouth amargo. 1/2 Onza de Vermouth. Cascara de naranja expri- mida. Adórnese con uno guinda.
1940 Pedro Talavera: Los secretos del cocktail. Seite 152. Mi cocktail.
En un gran vaso de cristal, unos pedacitos de hielo. 6 gotas de Bitter Campari. 1/3 copa de Vermouth Martini Rossi. 1/2 ídem de Captain’s Gin. Agítese bien y se pasa al vaso núm. 3 con una cor- teza de limón.
1940 Pedro Talavera: Los secretos del cocktail. Seite 240. Lancia cocktail.
En un gran vaso de cristal, unos pedacitos de hielo. 10 gotas de Bitter Campari. 1/2 copa de Vermouth Carpano. 1/2 ídem de Captain’s Gin. Agítese bien y se pasa al vaso núm. 3, con una cereza.
1943 Jacinto Sanfeliu Brucart: Cien Cocktails. Seite 29. Camparinete-Cocktail.
Póngase en el vaso mezclador unos pe- dacitos de hielo y añadir; 1/4 Campari 1/4 Vermut italiano 2/4 Dry Gin Agítese bien y sírvase en copa de cocktail. — Fórmula de «Albert», Chatam, París. —
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 17. Astoria Cocktail.
1 trait de Bitter Campari; 1/3 Cinzano Dry; 2/3 Gin.
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 44. Futurity Cocktail.
1 trait de Bitter Campari; 1/3 Cinzano; 2/3 Dry Gin.
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 49. Hoffman House Cocktail.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 18. Astoria Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Ver- mouth Martini dry, 2/3 SEACERS Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 54. Futurity Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini Vermouth doux, 2/3 Seager’s Spécial Dry Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 60. Hoffman House Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Ver- mouth Martini sec, 2/3 de SEAGER’ S Dry Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 65. Julio Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Gampari, 1/6 de Rossi, 1/6 Martini Vermouth sec, 2/3 de SEAGER’S Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 70. Lone Tree Cocktail.
Dans le shaker: 2 jets de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Martini Vermouth doux, 1/6 de Martini Vermouth sec, 2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin. Agiter légèrement et servir.
1948 René Bresson: Le Barman Moderne. Seite 51. Corsaire.
Dans un verre à mélange, avec deux ou trois mor- ceaux de glace gros comme une noix, mettre- : 20 % Gin. 30 % Rossi. 30 % Campari. 5 gouttes d’angostura. Un zeste de citron.
1948 René Bresson: Le Barman Moderne. Seite 178. Rossignol.
Dans un verre à mélange, avec deux ou trois mor- ceaux de glace gros comme une noix, mettre: 25 % Gin 25 % Cinzano. 25 % Campari. 25 % Rossi. Un zeste d’orange.
1948 René Bresson: Le Barman Moderne. Seite 218. Un Figaro.
Dans un verre à mélange, avec deux ou trois morceaux de glace gros comme une noix, mettre: 40 % Gin. 40 % Campari 20 % Vermouth Noilly. Un zeste de citron.
Un Figaro – 1948 René Bresson – Le barman moderne, pagee 218.
1948 Trader Vic: Bartender’s Guide. Seite 110. Camparinette Cocktail.
1 oz. gin 1/2 oz. Italian vermouth . 1/2 oz. campari Shake with cracked ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.
1948 Trader Vic: Bartender’s Guide. Seite 112. Charley Pie Cocktail.
3/4 oz. gin 1/2 oz. Italian vermouth . 1/4 oz. campari Shake with cracked ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.
1949 Jacinto Sanfeliu Brucart: Evolución y arte del cocktail. Seite 153. Negroni-Cocktail.
1/4 de vermut italiano, 2/4 de Campari, 1/4 de Gin.
1949 Jacinto Sanfeliu Brucart: Evolución y arte del cocktail. Seite 170. Tunnel-Cocktail.
1/3 de Gin, 1/3 de Campari, 1/6 de vermut dulce, 1/6 de vermut seco. Exprimir corteza de naranja.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 94. El Morocco Special No. 2.
Courtesy, John Perona 1 jigger Italian vermouth 1 jigger imported gin 1 dash Campari bitters Ice Stir well. Strain into cocktail glass. Add twist lemon peel.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 152. Le Veau D’Or Aperitif.
Courtesy, Henri, Le Veau d’Or, New York City 2 parts gin 2 parts Cinzano 1 part Campari bitters Service in wine glass with cube of ice, and add twist lemon peel.
Courtesy, Restaurant Marguery, New York City 1 jigger Seager’s imported gin 1 jigger sweet Martini Rossi vermouth 1 jigger Campari bitters Ice Stir, and serve very cold in cocktail glass. Add twist lime peel.
Courtesy, Capriccio Restaurant, Rome 1/3 Gordon gin 1/3 Campari bitters 1/3 Cinzano vermouth (sweet) Finish with a little seltzer, and serve in an old- fashioned glass with a lot of ice. Add twist orange peel.
Courtesy, Doney Veneto Restaurant, Rome 1/3 jigger Doney gin 2/3 jigger Doney bitters 1/4 jigger Carpano vermouth 1/2 slice orange Serve with soda and ice in cocktail glass.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 177. Negroni-Ritz of Paris.
By Georges, The Ritz Bar, Paris 1/4 jigger dry gin 1/2 jigger Italian vermouth 1/4 jigger Campari bitters Dash Angostura bitters Ice Shake well. Strain into old-fashioned glass with lump ice, half slice orange, half slice lemon, maraschino cherry.
1952 Anonymus: Cocktails. Seite 97. Tour Eiffel Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1/3 bitter Campari, 1/3 Dolzano, 1/3 gin, Ajouter un zeste d’orange.
1953 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 169. Campeon.
. 10 gramos de Bitter Campari. Refrescado. 25 gramos de Gin Gilbey’s. Servido en una copa de 30 gramos de Vermouth Cin- 100 gramos. zano. Gamador del premio Ca- 30 gramos de Vermouth Soleil. pital del concurso de Fco. Cinzano en 1952. (Creación de José Bue- no).
1953 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 227. Negroni.
. 50 gramos de Vermouth To- Refrescado. rino. Servido en una copa o 20 gramos de Bitter Rojo. vaso de 100 gra- 20 gramos de Dry Gin. mos. Agregar una rodaja de Limón . con cáscara.
1953 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 74. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin. 1/3 Sweet Vermouth. 1/3 Campari Bitters. Stir and Strain. Add Twist of Lemon Peel.
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 43. Astoria Cocktail.
Deux traits Bitter Campari 1/3 Vermouth Français 2/3 Gin Ajouter une olive verte.
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 56. Dolzano Cocktail.
1/4 Bitter Campari 1/4 Gin 1/2 Dolzano Un zeste d’orange Un zeste de citron. (Création des auteurs.)
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 90. Vermouth Cocktail.
Deux traits Bitter Campari Deux traits Orange Bitter 1/5 Gin 2/5 Vermouth Français 2/5 Vermouth Italien, ajou- ter un zeste d’orange et un zeste d citron.
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 107. Tour Eiffel Cocktail.
1954 Marcel Pace: Nos Meilleures boissons. Negroni.
Dans le tumbler In tumbler glace ice 1/3 GIN 1/3 CAMPARI 1/3 CINZANO zeste de citron lemon peel
1954 Eddie Clark: King Cocktail. Seite 44. Negroni.
1 measure Campari 1/2 measure Sweet Vermouth 1 measure Gin Slice of Orange or Lemon Fill with soda. Goblet glass.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 22. Astoria Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini dry, 2/3 SEAGERS Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 61. Futurity Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini, 2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 68. Hoffman House Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini dry, 2/3 de SEAGER’S Dry Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 73. Julio Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Rossi, 1/6 Martini dry, 2/3 de SEAGER’S Gin. Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 78. Lone Tree Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 2 jets de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Martini, 1/6 de Martini dry, 2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin. Mélanger légèrement et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 86. Negroni Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange: 1/3 Seager’s Gin, 1/3 Bitter Campari, 1/3 Martini. Mélanger et servir.
1959 Anonymus: Manual de Cocteleria. #89. Negroni (Long Drink)
En vaso de 10 onzas 1/2 onza de Bitter Campari 1 onza de Ginebra Seca 1 onza de Vermouth Carpano’s Punt e Mes y soda al gusto Pedazos de hielo y cascara de naranja.
1960 Anonymus: Recetas para cocteles. Seite 45. Negroni (Long Drink).
En vaso de 10 onzas. 1/2 onza de Bitter Campari 1 onza de Ginebra Seca 1 onza de Vermouth Carpano’s Punt e Mes y soda al gusto Pedazos de hielo y cáscara de naranja.
1960 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 75. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin. 1/3 Sweet Vermouth. 1/3 Campari Bitters. Stir and Strain. Add Twist of Lemon Peel.
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 30. Camparinette.
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 81. Negroni two.
1/6 Gin 2/6 Campari 3/6 Martini 1 tranche d’orange 1 cerise 1 zeste de citron
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 98. Rossi cocktail.
1/3 Rossi 2/3 Gin 2 traits Campari
1963 Eddie Clarke: Shaking in the 60’s. Seite 126. Negroni.
Pour into a goblet glass the following: 1/2 measure Campari 1/2 measure sweet Vermouth 1 measure gin Add piece of ice and slice of orange or lemon. Fill with soda water.
1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 64. Amapola Cocktail.
1 bicchiere e 1/3 di dry gin 2/3 di bicchiere di vermouth classico 1 cucchiaio di bitter campari ghiaccio a cubetti Introdurre qualche cubetto di ghiaccio nel mixer. Versare il dry gin ed il vermouth classico e mescolarli usando l’apposito cucchiaio; aggiungere il bitter campari. Mesco lare piuttosto forte, lasciar riposare uno o due secondi, riprendere infine a mescolare ma lentamente. Servire su bito.
1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 102. Campari Cocktail.
1 bicchiere e 1/3 di dry gin 1/3 di bicchiere di bitter campari 1 cucchiaio di vermouth dry 2 scorzette di limone senza nulla del bianco interno ghiaccio a cubetti Introdurre qualche cubetto di ghiaccio nel mixer. Versare il dry gin, il campari e il vermouth dry. Mescolare piuttosto forte usando l’apposito cucchiaio, lasciar riposare uno o due secondi, riprendere infine a mescolare ma lentamente. Servire subito in bicchieri guarniti con una scorzetta di li- mone.
1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 199. Negroni Cocktail.
1/3 di bicchiere di dry gin 1/3 di bicchiere di vermouth classico 1/3 di bicchiere di bitter campari 1 fettina di arancia, pelata a vivo 1 cubetto di ghiaccio Versare direttamente nel bicchiere sul cui fondo avrete posto un cubetto di ghiaccio, il dry gin, il vermouth clas- sico ed il bitter campari. Guarnire con la fettina di aran- cia e servire.
1964 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 139. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin. 1/3 Vermouth dulce. 1/3 Bitter Campari. 1/2 rodaja de naranja. 1 trozo grande de hielo. Preparai en un vaso largo.
1964 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 227. Negroni.
. 30 gramos de Vermouth To- Refrescado. rino. Servido en una copa o 30 gramos de Bitter Rojo. vaso de 200 gramos. 30 gramos de Dry Gin. Uno trozo de hielo. Agregar una rodaja de naran- . ja con cáscara.
1965 Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 Cocktails. Seite 88. Tunnel Cocktail.
(Bob Cord, Harry’s New York Bar, Paris) 1/3 dry Gin 1/3 Campari 1/6 Cinzano rot 1/6 Cinzano weiß im shaker mit Eis schütteln, ins Cocktailglas seihen und mit 1 Orangenschale abspritzen
1965 Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 Cocktails. Seite 102. Campari News.
1/4 Campari 1/4 italienischer Vermouth rot 1/4 italienischer Vermouth dry 1/4 Gin dry 1 Cumquat ins Glas
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 78. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin. 1/3 Sweet Vermouth. 1/3 Campari Bitters. Prepare in glass; add cube of ice. 1/2 Slice of Orange.
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 146. Campeon.
1st Prize Capital Competition Cinzano 1952 1/4 Cinzano Vermouth 1/4 French Vermouth 3/8 Dry Gin Gilbey 1/8 Bitter Campari. Iced Created by Jose Bueno
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 161. Cardinale.
3/5 Dry Gin 1/5 Dry Vermouth 1/5 Bitter Campari Shake and strain in Cocktail glass
1965 Harry Schraemli: Manuel du bar. Seite 441. Negroni Cocktail.
1/4 Punt e Mès (Carpano), 1/4 gin, 1/2 Campari. Agiter brièvement.
1966 Harry Schraemli: Le roi du bar. Seite 128. Negroni Cocktail.
Shaker. 1/4 Punt e Mès (Carpano), 1/4 gin, 1/2 Campari. ZO. [Orangenzeste]
1966 John Doxat: Booth’s Handbook of Cocktails and Mixed Drinks. Seite 57. Negroni.
2 oz. Dry Gin 1 oz. Sweet Vermouth 1 oz. Campari Pour over ice in tall goblet; top with Soda-Water; add slice of Orange.
1966 Mario Kardahi: Tratado Practico de Coctelería, Pastelería y Afines. Seite 164. Negroni.
. . 30 grs. de Vermouth Torino. Refrescado. 30 ” de Bitter Rojo. Servir en vaso para 30 gr. de Dry Gin. O. Fashioned con Agregar una rodaja de piel hielo. de limón.
1966 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 72. Negroni Highball.
Lump of ice in Highball Glass with: 1 oz. Sweet Vermouth. 1 oz. Campari Bitter. 1 oz. Gin. Fill wih Canada Dry Club Soda. Twist of Lemon Peel and slice of Orange on top. Stir.
1969 Mario Kardahi & Raul Echenique: El arte de la exquisitez y del buen beber. Seite 360. Negroni.
Refrescado. Servir en vaso de Old Fashioned. 30 gramos de Vermouth Torino, 30 ” ” Bitter Rojo, 30 ” ” Dry Gin. Agregar una rodaja de cáscara de limón
1972 Anonymus: Recipes – Wines and Spirits. Seite 18. Negroni.
To make 1 cocktail 2 ice cubes 1 1/2 ounces Carpano or sweet vermouth 1 1/2 ounces Campari bitters 1 1/2 ounces gin 1 strip lemon peel A 6-ounce old-fashioned glass Place the ice cubes in the old-fashioned glass and add the Carpano or sweet vermouth, bitters and gin. Stir the ingredients together briefly and drop in the lemon peel.
1972 Leo Cotton: Old Mr. Seite 67. Negronis.
3/4 oz. Old Mr. Boston Dry Gin 3/4 oz. Campari Bitters 3/4 oz. Sweet or Dry Vermouth Shake well with cracked ice and strain into Old Fashioned cocktail glass. May also be served over ice cubes in 8 oz. highball glass adding carbonated water and stirring.
1 part bitter Campari 1 part gin 1 part French vermouth Shake with ice cubes. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Add a twist of lemon peel.
1972 Trader Vic: Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. Seite 125. Negroni.
1/2 ounce bitter Campari 1/2 ounce gin 1/2 ounce Italian vermouth Pour into old fashioned glass filled with ice cubes. Stir well. Add a twist of lemon peel.
1973 Anonymus: 500 Ways to Mix Drinks. Seite 39. Negroni Cocktail.
1/3 bitter Campari Aperitivo 1/3 gin 1/3 Italian vermouth Shake well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
1973 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 72. Negroni Highball.
Lump of Ice in Highball Glass with: 1 oz. Sweet Vermouth, 1 oz. Compari Bitters, 1 oz. Gin. Fill with Canada Dry Club Soda. Twist of Lemon Peel and slice of Orange on top. Stir.
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 59. Negroni.
1/3 gin 1/3 sweet vermouth 1/3 Campari bitters Prepare in glass; add ice. 1/2 slice of orange Soda water if desired.
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 105. Campeon.
1/4 Cinzano vermouth (dry, sweet or bianco) 1/4 French vermouth 3/8 Gilbey’s dry gin 1/8 bitter Campari Ice José Bueno. 1st Prize Capital Competition Cinzano 1952
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 121. Casanova Cocktail.
1976 Brian F. Rea – Brian’s Booze Guide. Seite 67. Negroni Highball.
Made with same ingredients and portions as above, except drink is served in highball glass with ice cubes, then soda is added.
1976 Harry Craddock: The Savoy Cocktail Book. Seite 110. Negroni.
3/4 oz. Dry Gin. 3/4 oz. Campari. 3/4 oz. Sweet or Dry Vermouth. Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass, over ice cubes, with or without a splash of carbonated water. Add twist of lemon peel.
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 196. Negroni.
According to the Campari people the recipe is: cocktail glass Stir 1/3 Campari 1/3 gin 1/3 sweet vermouth If you use dry vermouth the drink becomes a Cardinal. Variations include the use of lemon and orange peels and bitters.
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 245. Camparinette.
Cocktail Glass Stir 1 oz gin 3/4 oz sweet vermouth 3/4 oz Campari
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 247. Cardinal.
Cocktail Glass Stir 1 oz gin 3/4 oz Campari 3/4 oz dry vermouth Lemon twist
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 250. Charley Pie.
Cocktail Glass Stir 1 oz gin 3/4 oz sweet vermouth 1/2 oz Campari (See Negroni)
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 348. Negroni.
Cocktail Glass Stir/Shake 1 oz gin 1 oz sweet vermouth 1 oz Campari
Variation Serve on the rocks with Soda splash Lemon twist (Similar to Americano)
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 349. Negronis.
Old Fashioned Glass Build 3/4 oz gin 3/4 oz Campari 3/4 oz sweet vermouth Fill with ice, soda Lemon twist (1 dash bitters optional)
1980 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 137. Negroni.
30 gramos de Dry Gin 30 gramos de vermouth Torino 30 gramos de bitter rojo Se prepara directamente en el vaso tipo highball con hielo, 1/2 rodaja de na~ ranja.
Anonymus: Manual del bar. 1980, page 127. Negroni.
2009 Anistatia Miller & Jarred Brown: Spirituous Journey Book Two. Seite 196. Negroni. 1 part London dry gin; 1 part Campari; 1 part sweet vermouth; garnish: orange twist. Cocktail glass or over ice in a tumbler.
2009 Gaz Regan: The Bartender’s Gin Compendium. Seite 307. Negroni. 45 ml Campari; 45 ml sweet vermouth; 45 ml gin; garnish: 1 orange twist. Ice-filled old-fashioned glas.
2009 Ted Haigh: Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Seite 295. The Negroni. 3 cl gin or vodka; 3 cl sweet vermouth; 3 cl Campari; garnish: orange wheel.
2010 Colin Peter Field: The Ritz Paris: Mixing Drinks. Seite 68. Negroni. 3/10 Beefeater 24 London dry gin; 3/10 Martini Rosso; 4/10 Campari;
2010: Jason Kosmas & Dushan Zaric: Speakeasy. Seite 42. Negroni. 1 1/4 ounces Plymouth gin; 1 1/4 ounces Campari; 1 1/4 ounces Cinzano sweet vermouth; garnish: 1 orange twist or half-wheel. cocktail glass or ice-filled rocks glass.
2011 Helmut Adam, Jens Hasenbein & Bastian Heuser: Cocktailian 1. Seite 472. Negroni. 2 cl Campari; 2 cl roter Wermut; 2 cl Gin; Garnitur: Orangenzeste. Auf Eis.
2011 Jim Meehan: Das Geheime Cocktailbuch. Seite 188. Negroni. 4 cl Beefeater Gin; 4 cl Campari; 4 cl Martini Rosso. Garnierung: Orangenschale. Cocktailglas oder auf Eis im Tumbler.
2012 Gaz Regan: The Negroni. Seite 11. “I tend toward around four parts gin to one part each of sweet vermouth and Campari.”
2012 Tom Sandham: World’s Best Cocktails. Seite 22. Negroni. 30 ml gin; 30 ml Campari; 30 ml sweet vermouth; garnish: orange slice. Ice cubes.
2013 Tristan Stephenson: The Curious Bartender. Seite 69. Negroni. 25 ml Tanqueray No. Ten Gin; 25 ml Campari; 25 ml Martini Rosso Vermouth; garnish: Slice of Lemon (or Grapefruit). Rocks glass with cubed ice.
2014 Dave Arnold: Liquid Intelligence. Seite 131. Negroni. 30 ml sweet vermouth; 30 ml gin; 30 ml Campari; garnish: orange or grapefruit twist. Coupe glass or over large rock in an old-fashioned glass.
2014 David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald & Alex Day: Death & Co. Seite 147. Negroni. 1 1/2 ounces Tanqueray London dry gin; 1 ounce Campari; 1 ounce house sweet vermouth; garnish: orange twist. Double rocks glass. Seite 284. House sweet vermouth: 1 part Dolin rouge vermouth, 1 part Punt e Mes.
2015 Duggan McDonnell. Drinking at the Devils Acre. Seite 77. Negroni. 30 ml No. 209 gin; 30 ml Italian vermouth; 30 ml Campari; garnish: orange peel.
2016 André Darlington & Tenaya Darlington: The New Cocktail Hour. Seite 91. Negroni. 45 ml gin (Plymouth or Bluecoat); 30 ml sweet vermouth (Cocchi or Carpano Antica); 22 ml Campari or Luxardo Aperitivo; garnish: 1/2 wheel of orange. Coupe or rocks glass over ice.
2016 Brian Silva: Mixing in the Right Circles at Balthazar London. Seite 53. Negroni. 35 ml Beefeater Gin; 25 ml Campari; 15 ml Martini Rosso; garnish: orange slice. Old Fashioned glass with ice.
2016 Philip Greene: The Manhattan. Seite 180. Negroni. 1 ounce Hendrick’s, Ford’s, or any good London Dry Gin; 1 ounce Martini sweet vermouth; 1 ounce Campari; garnish: orange peel. Rocks glass with large ice cubes.
2017 Gary Regan: The Joy of Mixology. Seite 254. Negroni. 1 1/2 ounces Campari; 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth; 1 1/2 ouncesgin; garnish: 1 orange twist.
2018 Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan: Cocktail Codex. Seite 89. Negroni. 1 ounce Tanqueray gin; 1 ounce Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth; 1 ounce Campari; garnish: 1 orange half wheel.
30 ml Eversbusch Doppelwachholder
30 ml Moot vermouth
30 ml House Campari (4 parts Tuvè Bitter, 1 part Campari)
Preparation: Stirred. Serve in a tumbler with a large piece of ice, sprinkle with orange zest.
The original Negroni differs from this recipe. We have described the reconstructed original recipe as Negroni Highball at the end of our post.
Alternatively and currently preferred by us:
30 ml Finsbury 47 Gin
30 ml Antica Torino vermouth di Torino rosso
30 ml La Canellese Bitter
(orange zest)
Preparation: 3 ice cubes, stirred for 25 seconds (75 times). Serve without ice, sprinkle with orange zest.
Introduction
At first glance, there is not much new to report about the Negroni; the history of its origins seems to be clear. The majority is of the opinion that the Negroni was an invention of Count Camillo Negroni and originated in Florence around 1919. Some, however, attribute the drink to a Corsican member of the family, another Count Negroni, who is said to have invented the drink in Senegal around 1860. There is general agreement that the Negroni is made from equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari.
However, if one takes a closer look at the historical sources and recipes, some doubts arise about these commonly repeated stories.
This essay is relatively extensive, which is why we want to give a brief overview of the parts it is divided into at the beginning. We start with Camillo Negroni and go into his life story. Connected to this is the origin of the Negroni cocktail. We will go into when the Negroni was created and what the original volume and recipe of the Negroni was. In this context, we go into the amount of gin, the use of soda, ice, orange and Campari. In order to better understand the Negroni historically, we must then deal with the Americano, its predecessor. For the sake of completeness, we then deal with the question of whether Pascal Olivier Negroni, rather than Camillo Negroni, is the true inventor of the drink. As is our custom, we conclude by analysing the historical recipes to see which of the generally published statements can be confirmed or which other conclusions can be drawn. We ask ourselves the following questions: What are the names of the historical recipes?? Is a Negroni served with ice? Wird ein Negroni mit Soda zubereitet? What proportions should be used? Does Campari have to be used in a Negroni? What garnish is used in a Negroni? What other variations are there? Which vermouth should be used? After a conclusion from the analysis, we reconstruct the original Negroni as it might have been based on the available sources. To distinguish it from the recipe used today, we call this drink Negroni Highball. Finally, we ask ourselves when and why the recipe of the Negroni was changed.
Camillo Negroni
Cammillo Luigi Manfredo Maria Negroni was born in Florence on 25 May 1868. He was the son of Count Enrico Negroni and his wife Ada Bishop Savage Landor. [1-9] [2-57] [3] [5] His mother had British roots. Her uncle inherited a handsome fortune, moved to Florence and bought the villa “La Torracia” in San Domenico di Fiesole, where Ada and her husband lived in 1868. [2-57] [2-58]
Cammillo’s father died in 1878. At the age of 16, Cammillo joined the military academy in Modena as a cadet. His habit of calling himself Camillo instead of Cammillo may date back to this time. [2-59] He was made a lieutenant, but then had to leave the military to secretly marry a noblewoman who was pregnant by him. He was not yet 21 years old, so was still considered a minor, and both families had made an agreement to avoid a scandal. The lady died, her son remained alive and was given his mother’s surname. [2-60]
There was a falling out between Camillo on the one hand and his mother and her second husband on the other, and so Camillo decided to go to the USA. In 1887 he embarked in Genoa. [2-61] Other sources speak of him going from Genoa to New York on the steamship Fulda in 1892. [3] [5] Camillo’s cousin, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, born in 1865, was a painter and writer who travelled to America, Japan, Korea, Russia, China, Australia, Tibet, Nepal, India, Africa and South America at a young age. [2-58] [5] One can therefore assume that Camillo Negroni was inspired by this for his later stay in the USA. [2-58]
There are only a few documents and records of Camillo’s time in the USA. An important one appeared in 1928, in which Robert Davis describes his trip to Tuscany. He had got lost in the countryside with his chauffeur. The chauffeur spoke only Italian, and so they could not converse or communicate. Frustrated, Robert Davis left the car and soon met a rider whom he asked for directions. This rider was Camillo Negroni, who had returned to Italy some twenty years earlier. [1-8] [1-9] [2-61] [2-76] [2-77] [2-78] [2-79] In this newspaper article we also learn that Camillo Negroni drove herds through the Yellowstone area in the USA, as far as the Canadian province of Alberta, and worked at the Oxley Ranch. We also learn that he had lost money playing poker.
In 1898 Camillo left the Oxley Ranch and went to New York. There he opened a fencing school at 624 Madison Avenue. [2-64] [3] [5] On 25 May 1903 he married Anta (Antonetta) Zazworka, in 1904 they both moved to Italy, [2-68] some sources also date the return to 1905, [2-79] to Via Orcagna 36 in Florence. [1-9] [2-70]
Back in Florence, Camillo liked to talk in his regular bar about his time as a cowboy, when he drove herds of cattle to the big markets in Canadian Saskatchewan, and about his time in Wyoming, according to the bartender of the time, Fosco Scarselli. [2-63]
Camillo Negroni died on 25 September 1934. [1-11] [2-74]
The origin of the Negroni Cocktail
Between 1919 and 1920, the drink that would later become world famous as the Negroni Cocktail was created in Florence. [2-71] The place of origin was the Caffè Casoni, located on the corner of Via de’ Tornabuoni and Via della Spada. [1-8] [2-45] This café was probably founded in 1820 as “Drogheria e Profumeria Casoni” [2-45] and was closed between 1932 and 1933. [2-45] [2-49] Its premises were taken over by the Caffè Giacosa, which opened in 1934. [2-49]
Camillo Negroni was a regular at Caffè Casoni, the bartender of the time was Fosco Bruno Sabatino Scarselli. The latter was born in 1898, came back to Florence after the First World War, had various jobs and finally got a job at the Caffè Casoni in 1917. [2-47] It is reported that sometime between 1917 and 1920 Camillo entered the bar and asked Fosco to fortify his Americano with gin. [1-8] [2-48] From that day on, it is said, Camillo then always ordered “the usual” from Fosco, namely this variation of an Americano. The other guests are said to have become curious and then also ordered an “Americano in the style of Count Negroni”, and so it was not long before the drink was simply called “Negroni”. [2-49]
We have doubts that Camillo asked for the gin to be used. This seems to have been more Fosco’s idea. This can be proved by an article published in the “Gente” on 25 November 1962. In it, Fosco is quoted with the following words: „Beveva l’Americano anche il conte Camillo Negroni, ma lo voleva un po’ più robusto. Io gli aggiungevo qualche goccia di gin (amaro). Il conte era un gran bevitore. C’erano dei giorni che riusciva a inghiottire anche quaranta drinks, eppure non lo vidi mai ubriaco. La sua abitudine di aggiungere qualche goccia di amaro all’Americano, a poco a poco, contagiò gli altri clienti. Venivano da me e mi chiedevano un cocktail come quello del conte. Poi dopo un po’ cominciarono a chiedere: un Negroni. Ecco com nacque la famosa mistura.“ [2-52] [8] Fosco’s words are: “Count Camillo Negroni also drank the Americano, but he wanted it a little stronger. I added a few drops of (bitter) gin. The count was a big drinker. There were days when he could swallow forty drinks, but I never saw him drunk. His habit of adding a few drops of bitters to the Americano gradually infected other customers. They would come to me and ask for a cocktail like the Count’s. Then, after a while, they asked: a Negroni. That’s how the famous mixture was born.”
Luca Picchi here interprets the term “bitter gin” as “unsweetened gin”. [2-52] We have also heard the interpretation that the writer of the lines might have made a mistake and confused the gin with an amaro, a herbal bitter. There is also the opinion that the gin might have had a different organoleptic expression then than nowadays. However, we disagree. This is not a mistake or a misinterpretation, but literally what was written. The most important ingredient in a gin is juniper. The berries – botanically speaking, the cones – of this plant have a bitter taste, and this is probably an adaptation against being eaten by mammals. [9] This is the key to understanding. What Fosco meant here is a juniper-heavy, i.e. bitter gin. In the following we will look at how the recipe of the original Negroni was constructed and do not want to anticipate this too much. But Fosco himself says he only added a few drops of gin. For these few drops to change the taste of the Americano, it must have been a juniper-strong, possibly even an overproof gin.
When was the Negroni created?
Since Fosco Scarselli was also present at the creation of the Negroni, and Fosco only came to Florence in 1917, the drink must have been created between 1917 and 1920, because there is a letter from 1920 which mentions the Negroni. [2-84] From Florence, the Negroni is said to have spread to Milan and Rome. [2-90]
Other sources also attest to the origin of the drink in Florence. Legal disputes arose at the end of the 1950s because a certain Mr Negroni (one not mentioned in our article so far) marketed a bottled “Old Negroni Cocktail”. He was sued by Campari to stop this and Campari won the case. During the trial, numerous witnesses, including Fosco, stated that the Negroni had been invented in Florence in the 1920s and that the bottled drink was not the original Negroni. [2-51] Interestingly, they stated that this was only in the 1920s, and not between 1917 and 1920. However, there is a letter, which we discuss below, according to which the Negroni must have existed in 1920.
What was the original volume of the Negroni and what was the recipe?
Fosco is not the only one to report that the Count drank many Negronis, up to 40 a day. Francis Harper also knows about the Count’s drinking habits. He was a London antique dealer and friend of the Count. On 13 October 1920, he wrote a letter saying: “My Dear Negroni, … you must not take more than 20 Negronis in one day.” [1-14] [2-84] [2-85] [3]. So this letter not only proves that the Negroni already existed in 1920, but also that the Count drank more than 20 Negronis a day.
It is said that the Negroni consists of equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari, that is the generally stated formula. Luca Picchi also says so. [2-84] He justifies this by saying that Camillo lived in New York for a long time and was probably also familiar with the cocktail culture there, and therefore probably suggested adding gin to the Americano. Against this background, one could well imagine that the Negroni was prepared from equal parts from the beginning. [2-89] However, this is contradicted by Fosco’s statement that the count only asked for something stronger, and he, Fosco, then added gin to the Americano.
However, Luca Picchi has doubts about the quantity served, because the count is said to have drunk 20 to 40 Negronis a day without being drunk afterwards. [2-52] [2-84] As an explanation for this, Luca Picchi says that the Negroni must have been served in small glasses at that time. [2-85] The drink was not served in an old-fashioned glass, as is common today, but rather in a small cordial glass with a 3 cl capacity. This glass was very popular at the time, and vermouth, ratafia, elixirs and bitters were served in it. With this assumption, according to the author, the amount of negronis drunk by the count becomes more plausible. [2-85] [2-86] But let us extrapolate: this would still result in a total of 0.4 litres each of these ingredients with equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari, i.e. more than 13 Negronis today, if one assumes the use of 30 ml each of the ingredients for this one. We therefore do not believe that the Count could have drunk this amount in one day, more or less daily, without ever appearing drunk or being considered an alcoholic. The use of a small glass is plausible from our point of view. Incidentally, the use of small glasses has a long tradition in Italy. Michel de Montaigne reported from Florence in 1580: “The German bad habit of drinking from excessively large glasses has been reversed here: only unusually small ones are used.” [20-155] However, using a recipe of equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari is not plausible – which can also be proven. So what did the original recipe presumably look like? So let us first summarise what we can read about it in the literature before we later analyse the traditional recipes ourselves – and come to partly different conclusions.
The quantity of gin
Fosco himself states that he added a few drops of bitter gin to the Americano. [2-52] [8] The statement that he only used a few drops of gin seems incomprehensible, since a few drops do not affect the aroma – unless you only prepare small amounts – and you use a juniper-heavy one. The thesis that the Americano and the first Negroni were served in small cordial glasses offers a fitting explanation here. How much is to be understood by a few drops remains to be seen. We will come back to this later. It could well have been half a bar spoon or a whole bar spoon. We opted for 15 ml – so that the juniper flavours are also perceptible.
The use of soda
In the following we use soda and seltzer synonymously. Some sources report that soda belongs in an Americano or Negroni, others write seltzer. Soda water is water enriched with carbon dioxide and belongs to the group of alkaline acidulants. Because it usually contains sodium hydrogen carbonate, it tastes slightly soapy like lye. Well-known soda waters come from Fachingen, Karlsbad, Marienbad, Niederselters and Vichy. [15] Seltzer, also called Selterswasser, Selters or Selterwasser, originally referred to a mineral water from the springs in Niederselters in central Hesse. This water is an alkaline-muriatic acidulous water, i.e. a mineral water that is alkaline due to its sodium hydrogen carbonate content and contains sodium chloride, with a natural carbonic acid content of over 250 mg/l. However, the brand name “Selters” has taken on a life of its own, has become a generic name and is often used synonymously with mineral water. [16] In order to avoid confusion with simple mineral water in the following, we prefer the term soda.
It should be emphasised at this point first of all that Fosco did not talk about swapping soda for gin. He only says that he added a few drops of gin to the Americano. [2-52] [8] So soda must have been present in the original Negroni.
The use of soda in the Negroni is nothing unusual and goes back to an older tradition. Back then, vermouth was often served with a shot of soda, especially during the hot season. Campari was also regularly served with it, long before the 1920s. So was the mixture of vermouth and Campari, as an Americano. [2-88] So it is only logical to prepare the original Negroni, intended as an aperitif, the Americano with a little bit of gin, also with soda. Moreover, the use of soda – according to Luca Picchi – opens up the aromas and reduces the alcohol content. [2-88]
In “Footlose in Italy”, published in 1950, the author Horace Sutton describes a series of Italian drinks. The Negroni is also included, and it is made with vermouth, Campari, gin and soda: „If you want to drink native there is always vermouth and soda which is light and as nonalcoholic as you can get without ordering an orange crush. An Americano, which bears no relation to anything American, is vermouth, soda and campari – a scarlet-colored bitters. I have it on good authority that an Americano is called Americano because it is a mixed drink, a bit of alcoholic chemistry for which the Americani are apparently well noted abroad. For mor formidable fortification try a Negroni – vermouth, campari, seltzer and gin – or a Cardinale – a Martini with campari which turns it red.“ [6] [7] [10]
There is another source that says that a Negroni should have soda. We will go into this one below, because it also tells us about the ice.
The ice
The question of whether the Negroni was originally served “on the rocks” is debatable. If this was the case, Luca Picchi suggests, a small “Piedmontese” glass with a capacity of 4.5 cl could have been used. [2-86] Refrigeration technology was not yet widespread in Italy at that time as it was in other countries. Therefore, in Italy, natural ice usually had to be stored in specially built rooms. The use of ice stored in this way has a long tradition in Italy, also in Florence. [2-87] Since the end of the 18th century, drinks chilled with ice were enjoyed there in the summer months, even by the general public. [2-112] Around 1920, there were still several companies in Florence offering ice from the mountains for sale. [2-114]
However, we do not believe that the Negroni was originally served with ice, and the use of ice to cool the Negroni can also be doubted in principle. It does not seem to have been stirred. That is how it is handed down to us. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were three places in Florence where cocktails were prepared. One of them was the “Orologio” in Via Por Santa Maria. It was run by Gerardo Lotti, [2-93] and his son describes a scene when his father prepared Negronis as follows: “Everyone watched him, solemnly shake the three bottles, one after another. It was like an intense collective concentration, everyone participating up until the splash of seltzer, which penetrated the cocktail right to the bottom of the glass, as if he had added its soul by mere mixing of ingredients. That splash of seltzer, which replaced the cocktail mixing spoon, was a liberating act. The Negroni was now complete and everyone resumed their concentrations“. [2-94]
So we gather from this description that the Negroni in Florence was not stirred, so it could not have been chilled by ice, and it was not served on ice. In addition, a dash of soda was added here as well.
The orange
The orange may not have been added from the beginning but at a later date, but a use from the beginning would also be plausible. But Luca Picchi says that it is impossible to say for sure. [2-88]
Campari
Actually, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Campari must also be used in a Negroni, and that it is not interchangeable. That’s what we hear again and again. However, as we will explain later, we have substituted it for ourselves. Is it then still a Negroni? This much can be said at this point: it is not proven whether Campari was used at all in the original Negroni. Despite his extensive research, Luca Picchi cannot say with certainty whether Campari was used at all in the first Negroni: „The history and evolution of this extraordinary product [Bitter] are a source of national pride. The widespread availability of Campari from the early years of the twentieth century allows us to say that the first Negroni was mostly likely prepared with the Campari Bitter.” [2-195] However, he also writes that we should not forget that in the second half of the nineteenth century there were other bitters besides Campari that were “equaly comparable“, such as Gamoni, Moroni, Martini and Bonomelli, but none of them “has been able to counter the entrepreneurial strength of Campari“. He therefore deduces that the hypothesis [!] that the first Negroni was prepared with Campari is well-founded and is also supported by numerous documents that prove that Campari was delivered to Florence in 1920: “This means that the hypothesis that the first Negroni was made with Campari Bitter is well founded, as well as supported by a lot of documentation that attests to the steady and periodic distribution of this product in Florence in the 1920s.” [2-207]
We can confirm this from our own experience: It doesn’t have to be Campari. We prefer another bitter, the Berto Bitter. Of course, it’s a question of taste. In any case, we like the Berto Bitter better; it is more aromatic and complex, less sweet. Proof that we are right in our choice is this: We have always quibbled a little with the balance of Negroni and always preferred it served on ice, because cold makes imbalances disappear. With Berto Bitter, on the other hand, we have found that it is better without ice.
The Americano – predecessor of the Negroni
We have now reported a lot about the Negroni, but have not yet taken a closer look at the Americano as its predecessor. We should do so at this point. First of all, it is worth remembering that at the end of the nineteenth century, the so-called vermouth hour was celebrated in Florentine cafés. It was, so to speak, the afternoon programme of the gentlemen. A Turin vermouth, Vermouth di Torino, was served. [1-4] [2-40] At that time, bitter liqueurs were also spreading, and it soon became fashionable to combine vermouth and bitters. The Americano was born. [1-4] [2-40] The Frenchman Émile Leveuvre describes it in 1889 under the name ‘Vermouth de Turin au Fernet Branca’ as a mixture of Turin vermouth, Fernet Branca and soda water, served in a glass with ice. He adds that this is the preferred aperitif in Italy. [18-40] However, one should not lose sight of the fact that the term “Americano” did not so much refer to a clearly defined drink with fixed ingredients, but was rather understood as the concept of preparing and drinking a cocktail in the American way. [1-4] [2-41]
We also refer to Arnaldo Strucchi’s treatise “Il vermouth di Torino” as evidence for this statement. In the 1909 edition it says on page 104: „VERMOUTH AL BITTER O AMERICANO. – E’ detto americano, perchè negli Stati Uniti si ha l’usanza di bere il Vermouth mescolato con liquori amari e gin (cohiskey) formando una bibita chiamata « coktail ». “ The author explains that vermouth with bitters is also called Americano because it is the custom in the United States to drink vermouth mixed with bitter liqueurs and gin (or whiskey), and that this drink is called a cocktail.
The predecessor of the Americano, it is also said, is the Milano Torino. The latter was fashionable in Italian cafés for a long time. It is a mixture of Milanese Campari and Turin vermouth and is said to have originated in the 1860s at the Caffè Camparino in Milan. If you add a little soda, it is explained, you get an Americano. [1-4] [6] The Americano would have received this name because it is said to have been very popular with American tourists. Alternatively, it is said that the Milano Torino already contained soda. [6]
Be that as it may, what exactly a Milano-Torino or an Americano is, we want to shed more light on in a separate article. For us, something else is interesting at this point. Not where the Americano comes from, but what was meant by it in the 1920s. To clarify this question we have consulted the book “Mille Misture”, published in 1936. [13] In this book there are numerous different recipes. Among the long drinks, the author Elvezio Grassi lists them. Among them are numerous different combinations, all prepared with vermouth, bitters and soda. Campari, Fernet Branca or other amari are used as bitters. Here we will only look at the recipes with Campari, which are listed from page 145 onwards.
Americano Accossato (Ape-
ritivo).
Versare in un calice aperitivo:
20% Bitter Campari
40% Vermouth rosso Accos-
sato
40% Seltz fresco.
Servite con buccia limone.
Americano Ballor (Aperiti-
vo) .
Si versa in un calice aperitivo:
10% Bitter Campari
40% Vermouth rosso Ballor
50% Seltz fresco.
Servite con buccia limone.
Americano Campari (Aperi-
tivo).
Si versa in un calice aperitivo:
10% Vermouth Torino (dolce)
40% Bitter Campari
50% Seltz fresco.
Servite con buccia limone.
Americano Cinzano (Aperi-
tivo).
Si versa in un calice aperitivo:
20% Bitter Campari
30% Vermouth Rosso Cinzano
50% Seltz fresco.
Lo si serve con buccia limone.
Americano Cora (Aperitivo).
Si versa in un calice aperitivo:
10% Bitter Campari
30% Vermouth Cora
60% Seltz fresco.
Lo si serve con buccia limone.
Americano Martini e Rossi
(Aperitivo).
Si versa in un calice aperitivo:
20% Bitter Campari
30% Vermouth Martini e Rossi
50% Seltz fresco.
Lo si serve con buccia limone.
It is noticeable here that the proportions vary.
The ratio of Campari, vermouth and soda certainly depends on personal taste and the brands used. However, if we take the average of the recipes mentioned as a best approximation, we will certainly not be completely wrong. This average means that an Americano should be made from 15% Campari, 35% vermouth and 50% soda.
Pascal Negroni
However, there is a branch of the Negroni family that claims that it was not Camillo Negroni who invented the Negroni in Florence, because there was no Camillo Negroni, but their ancestor when he was in Senegal. At least that’s how Noel Negroni claims it. His ancestor, General Pascal Olivier Count of Negroni, was the one who invented the Negroni Cocktail, [1-11] [3] [5] in Senegal. [3] The General was born on 4 April 1829 in the castle of San Colombano, in Rogliano in Corsica and died on 22 October 1912 in Alençon in Normandy. [1-11] [3] He joined the French army at the age of 18 and retired after 44 years as a brigardier-general. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he received the Officer’s Cross of the Imperial Legion of Honour from Emperor Louis-Napoléon for his services in the Battle of Wörth. [1-11] [3] [11]
Noel Negroni states: “Pascal Olivier was the reputed inventor of the famous‚ Negroni Cocktail‘ (equal parts of Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth, served in a short glass over ice and garnished with an orange slice).” [1-11] So Pascal Olivier was the inventor of the famous ‘Negroni cocktail’, made from equal parts of Campari, gin and sweet vermouth, served in a tumbler on ice and with a slice of orange.
Pascal Olivier was stationed in the town of Lunéville during the Franco-Prussian War and, as a high-ranking noble officer, was often in a position to host soirées. At one of these soirées – around 1870 – Pascal is said to have introduced his vermouth-based drink to the officers in Lunéville.[3] There is a letter from 1886 that Pascal Olivier wrote to his older brother Roche. It says: “D’ailleurs sais-tu que le cocktail que j’ai inventé á Saint Louis á base de Vermouth fait un malheur au bal des officiers de Lunéville?“, “By the way, do you know that the cocktail I invented in Saint Louis based on vermouth is a hit at the officers’ ball in Lunéville?” [3]
It is said that this drink was developed in honour of Pascal Olivier Negroni’s marriage to Blanche Gérard-Fontallard, which took place on 6 May 1857. At that time, Pascal was a commander in the French colony of Saint Louis in Senegal. He was stationed there from 1855 to 1865. In order to support this claim with further evidence, a member of the Negroni family travelled to Senegal to search for them. [3] They found descendants of the general’s staff and asked them for family lore. These were as follows:
Dr Maurice Ousselin was a pharmacist who treated French officers, and his descendant A. W. Bencheroun reports that he had access to the officers’ mess around 1860 and often mentioned the invention of the Negroni Cocktail by a certain “Captain de Negroni”. Mr Ousselin also remembered his mother’s brother, who was close to the French colonial authorities and who also liked to talk about the Negroni cocktail. [3]
Another person reports that she has been working as a barmaid in Saly, Senegal, for the last 10 years and that the Negroni cocktail is very popular in Senegal. There is a tradition in her family. Her great-grandfather owned a textile factory in Senegal around 1860, from which the French army procured uniforms. Her grandmother became good friends with many French officers, one of whom was Captain de Negroni. He had given her a saddle that was still in the family. The captain had married a young lady and created a drink of gin and vermouth ( Martini), and she had added Campari [3] – although the source from which we have this information does not define exactly who “she” would be, the bride, or the grandmother. So Negroni’s drink seems to have consisted only of gin and vermouth? That would be something like a Martinez or Martini cocktail that lacks the bitters. However, this is only invented in the USA around 1884, and we don’t hear anything about it in Europe before that date either. In any case, we think it is very unusual that the Martinez cocktail should have been invented in Senegal some twenty years before the USA.
Campari was also only founded in Italy in 1860. [4] It is therefore rather unlikely that it was already available in Senegal at the time of the wedding in 1857. The same applies to the vermouth from Martini that was allegedly used. The company Martini Sola e Cia, called Martini & Rossi after 1879, was founded in 1863, [14] so that this vermouth could definitely not have been available at the wedding. Here, different memories and facts seem to be mixed up in the family lore.
As early as 1980, it was suspected that the Negroni was a “Corsican” cocktail. On 2 February 1980, an article appeared in the “Corse Matin” asking whether the Negroni was a Corsican cocktail, and it was said that it had been invented by the Rogliano-born General Pascal Negroni. He would have had the idea for this divine mixture of equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari, and that this happened in Paris at the St. Augustine Officers’ Club on the “eve of the Great War”, probably meaning the First World War here. [3] [5] According to this article, that would have been 1914. There is nothing here about 1857 in Senegal. However, 1914 cannot be right either, because the Count’s letter to his brother mentions the vermouth-based cocktail as early as 1886. Moreover, the Count died almost two years before the war began.
We cannot understand why Pascal Olivier Negroni should have invented the Negroni Cocktail, which consists of gin, vermouth and Campari. This seems to be wishful thinking. We can safely assume that he invented a drink that contained vermouth, probably in Senegal on the occasion of his wedding; this drink may also have been called “Negroni”. However, that is all that can be said with certainty.
Analysis of the historical recipes
There are numerous contradictory legends about who invented the Negroni, and there are also many discussions about how exactly a Negroni should be prepared. To shed light on this, it is necessary to analyse the historical recipes. This is the only way to make a well-founded statement. The historical recipes we found are listed in the appendix. We have not only included those that call themselves Negroni, but all those that are prepared with vermouth, Campari and gin. This is the only way to get a complete picture. In the following, we ask ourselves various questions that help to better understand the Negroni.
Question 1: What are the names of the historical recipes?
The Negroni is always presented as something unique, as a stroke of genius that Fosco Scarselli and Camillo Negroni had in Florence. Is this really the case?
We have analysed the historical recipes with vermouth, Campari and gin. We do not ask the question about the proportions here, nor do we distinguish whether soda is used or what garnish is used in addition. According to the secondary sources, this cannot be answered unambiguously even for a Negroni, and so we have to consider the whole spectrum as equivalent for the time being.
So let’s list the different names together with their components and year of publication:
What can be deduced from this? The first recipe with the name Negroni appeared in 1939 (as Negrone). 24 similar recipes appeared before that, under 16 different names. In the next decade, between 1940 and 1949, a Negroni appears once, in 1949, but between 1940 and 1949, 19 similar recipes appear under 14 different names. Only from 1950 onwards can we say that about half of the recipes bear the name Negroni, between 1970 and 1979 about two thirds. We can see from this that it was by no means taken for granted that a combination of gin, vermouth and Campari should be called a Negroni, as it is thought to be today.
What we can also deduce from the multitude of different names is the following: The use of Campari as a bitter in a cocktail of vermouth and gin was practically in the air from 1920 onwards. It was nothing unique. We have already quoted Arnaldo Strucchi’s monograph on vermouth, which describes precisely this: One uses an amaro as a bitter in a cocktail. In a way, a Negroni made without soda is something like an Italian-inspired Martini cocktail. We went into more detail on the use of Campari as a bitter substitute in our article on the Boulevardier, so we can refer to it here.
What we also have to say at this point: There is no clear historical evidence that the combination of gin, vermouth and Campari should be called Negroni, on the grounds that this is the name of the drink that first used this combination. It can be proved with certainty that a cocktail later called Negroni by customers existed in Florence as early as 1920, and that it must have been created from 1917 onwards. The first mention of a Negroni in a cocktail book, however, is not until 1939, but the first mention of a similar recipe in a cocktail book can be found as early as 1927, as Hoffman-House Cocktail, Julio Cocktail, Lone Tree Cocktail, Loving, Mussolini or Za Za Cocktail. We can assume that these drinks were already known for quite some time before publication in a book, and so it is quite conceivable that one of them is older than the Negroni.
At this point, however, we do not want to dispute the designation of Negroni for the combination of gin, vermouth and Campari. That is the name by which the drink is generally known today, and that is how it should remain. Nor do we want to discuss here which alternative name would be correct. For example, a Zaza cocktail is nothing other than a Dubonnet cocktail, both names are used synonymously, and the designation of a gin-vermouth-Campari cocktail with this name is therefore not permissible. It may be similar with the other names. However, as we will conclude later, this is not really interesting.
Question 2: Is a Negroni served with ice?
Another question that has been asked before is whether a Negroni is historically correct to serve with or without ice. As we have established, the Negroni was originally served without ice. But what do the recipes say?
If you look at which Negroni recipes are served with ice and which without, there is no uniform picture. So both are permissible, depending on taste. Basically, one can only state that a Negroni, if it is prepared with soda as a highball, always contains ice.
Question 3: Is a Negroni prepared with soda?
As we have discovered, the Negroni in Florence was originally not only served without ice, but also prepared with soda. Is this reflected in the recipes?
As with ice, there is no uniform picture here either. Many recipes use soda, even more do without it. So you cannot deduce from the recipes that a Negroni must be prepared without soda. Although this is generally the case today, it was not the case in the past.
Question 4: What proportions should you use?
The basic rule today is that a Negroni consists of equal parts of gin, vermouth and Campari. Do the historical recipes also see it that way? The following picture emerges, whereby it should be added that it makes no difference whether soda is added or not. The diagram shows the ratio between gin, vermouth and Campari. The oldest recipe is on the left, the most recent on the right.
As you can see, there are slight differences, but basically gin, vermouth and Campari are used in equal proportions. On average, 33.7 % gin, 34.4 % vermouth and 31.9 % Campari are used.
Question 5: Must Campari be used in a Negroni?
We explained in our article on the Boulevardier, we explained why we replaced Campari. The same applies to the Negroni. The reasons that led us to do this are of a more topical nature. We have already explained that there is no evidence that Campari was used in the original Negroni. However, it should be mentioned here that it can be deduced from the numerous recipes from the 1920s that are comparable to the Negroni that Campari was most probably also used for the original Negroni (as well as for the Americano). Nevertheless, there are recipes that do not use Campari but an alternative bitter. These were published in 1951, 1953, 1964, 1966, 1969 and 1980. Even though Campari can be considered the standard, it seems that other bitters may be used.
Question 6: What garnish is used in a Negroni?
Luca Picchi thinks that it is plausible that the orange has been part of a Negroni from the beginning, but that nothing can be said for sure. [2-88] At this point we want to disagree. Let us start with the Americano. This was apparently always served with a lemon zest, at least this is the case with all the recipes from “Mille Misture”. It is therefore obvious that a Negroni, as a variation of an Americano, was also prepared with a lemon zest.
If we analyse the historical recipes, we can see that a lemon is mentioned 20 times (lemon zest 17 times, lemon slice 3 times). Orange appears 19 times (orange zest 8 times, orange slice 11 times). Far behind is cherry, mentioned twice, and once even lime zest is used. It should be noted that these garnishes can be combined with each other.
So it is by no means certain that the use of orange would be plausible. There is much to suggest that it was rather the lemon zest, because this was already used in the Americano. But orange has also found its place, and its use is obvious to support the orange flavours of Campari. In that sense, you can use both.
Question 7: What other variations are there?
There are basically no other ingredients for a Negroni. The only deviation is the indication in 1951 that one should add a dash of Angostura Bitters, in 1977 the addition of a dash of bitters is indicated as optional.
Question 8: Which vermouth should be used?
At this point we would also like to mention the vermouth to be used. This must, of course, correctly be a Turin vermouth, i.e. a sweet, Italian vermouth. Some people use Punt e Mes instead. Strictly speaking, this is not a Turin vermouth, but a mixture of Turin vermouth with an additional amaro. Incidentally, there are historical recipes that also give preference to Punt e Mes, namely 1959, 1960, 1965, and 1966.
Conclusion on the modern Negroni
So, after analysing the recipes, we can better define how a (modern) Negroni should be prepared. In this, we come to somewhat different conclusions than those published in the secondary literature.
The modern Negroni is prepared with three equal parts Campari, red (Italian) vermouth and gin. It is stirred on ice and then served either without ice cubes or with ice cubes in a tumbler. The latter has gradually become the preferred option, and we also prefer our Negroni with ice. The Negroni can be garnished with orange or lemon zest, or slices, although this was probably only used in the past because the use of fruit was considered fashionable; just remember the Old Fashioneds served as fruit salad. In any case, we only recommend the zest. The use of the lemon zest certainly goes back to the Americano. We prefer the orange zest to support the orange flavours of the Campari.
But this is the modern way of preparing it. We now want to reconstruct the original Negroni, which, by the way, is a tasty variant that should not be underestimated.
The Negroni Highball
40 ml Antica Formula vermouth
20 ml House Campari (4 parts Tuvè Bitter, 1 part Campari)
10 ml Royal Dock navy strength gin
50 Thomas Henry soda
Preparation: Prepare as a highball.
Alternatively and currently preferred by us:
40 ml Antica Torino rosso vermouth
20 ml La Canellese Bitter
15 ml Finsbury 47 Gin
50 ml Thomas Henry Soda
Preparation: 3 ice cubes, built in a highball glass.
Based on our analysis, it has not only become clearer what a “modern” Negroni is, but also how to imagine the original Negroni. As an Americano made with a little gin, not stirred on ice and not served with ice, and probably without any garnish.
Can anything tasty be reconstructed with this information? We have already briefly discussed the Americano and have established that an average Americano consists of 15% Campari, 35% vermouth and 50% soda. In Mille Misture, the book on which we based this analysis, the Americano is always garnished with a lemon zest. So presumably this will also have been the garnish for a Negroni, if one was used at all. We do not know how the Americano was served in Florence. But let’s assume, for the sake of experiment, that it would have been served in the average proportions determined, namely 15% Campari, 35% vermouth and 50% soda.
The quantities for an Americano, calculated down to 30 ml, are approx. 5 ml (4.5 ml) Campari, 10 ml (10.5 ml) vermouth, 15 ml soda. Let us now return to the statement by Fosco Scarselli, who stated that he had added a few drops of gin to the Americano. What exactly did he mean by that? For the sake of simplicity, let’s equate the drop meant here more or less with a dash, which – as we explained in post on the dash – is equivalent to about 1.25 ml. If we also take into account that the gin content must be lower than that of Campari – otherwise Fosco would have said that he had taken just as much gin as Campari – then we might be talking about 2.5 ml of gin. Fosco pointed out that he used a “bitter” gin – which we translated into a juniper-strong overproof gin.
Put all this together and you get the following recipe for a 30 ml Negroni: 5 ml Campari, 10 ml vermouth, 2.5 ml gin and 12.5 ml soda. This results in a fairly low-alcohol mixture, and if it is served in 30 ml glasses, one can certainly drink 40 of them occasionally, as the Count is said to have done. The alcohol content is around 14%, and the total volume of 40 would be 1.2 litres.
To illustrate this, let’s convert this ratio to today’s Negronis. Today’s Negroni consists of 30 ml Campari, 30 ml vermouth and 30 ml gin. Strictly speaking, you also have to add the meltwater, which adds perhaps 30%, i.e. about 30 ml. In total, 120 ml.
If we extrapolate the original Negroni to 120 ml for a better comparison, we get 20 ml Campari, 40 ml vermouth, 10 ml gin and 50 ml soda. The difference is not really that big, and yet the result is a completely different drink. It’s easy to think of the original Negroni as a highball. A highball is prepared with ice, and so we suggest using ice as well, in deviation from the “original”.
We tried this reconstruction, of course, and it is very tasty. We did without a lemon or orange zest, but you can add it optionally. Compared to an Americano, the additional gin is subtly noticeable, but without dominating too much. At the same time, the drink thus remains low in alcohol and retains its Italian character as an aperitivo.
If one wants to be historically correct, this reconstruction should actually be called “Negroni”, and the Negroni common today should actually have a different name, because as we can see from the historical sources, only the use of soda makes the Negroni a Negroni. But history has decided otherwise, and so we propose to call the original version simply “Negroni Highball”. A designation that has also occasionally appeared in historical recipes, first in 1966 by Oscar Haimo.
When and why was the recipe of the Negroni changed?
So, as we can prove, the Negroni was originally an aperitif with lots of vermouth and Campari, with soda and some gin, probably served in 3 cl glasses, served without ice in the glass and prepared without stirring on ice.
As we have seen from the analysis of the recipes, the recipe of the Negroni as given in the books is different from the original one.
What interests us here is the question of why this recipe change took place. We don’t know, but we have a guess. At some point, the Negroni was named Campari’s signature drink. Even today, Campari advertises this drink very intensively. But already in the fifties of the last century, Campari must have claimed the drink for itself, because why else would they have sued the producer of the bottled “Old Negroni Cocktail” and insisted that this bottling was not a Negroni.
On 13 October 1956, an advertisement by Austin, Nichols & Co. of New York appeared in “The New Yorker” on page 199. It advertises Campari with a signature drink. We read there: „The Campari Cocktail (also called Negroni). The World Connoisseur’s Cocktail.“ The recipe is equal parts Campari, sweet vermouth and gin. And it is called the Campari Cocktail, which is historically correct, as the recipe of the original Negroni was clearly different, but they add as a note that this cocktail is also called the Negroni. [2-98] [17] The Negroni cocktail first appeared in the US in newspaper articles and in bars after World War 2. [1-x]. Also, the Negroni does not actually appear in recipe books until the 1950s. In our opinion, this is probably due to the fact that the Campari Cocktail a.k.a. Negroni was massively advertised by Campari. As part of this advertising campaign, the recipe of the Negroni was changed, the Campari content was increased and the drink was adapted to American drinking habits. While the original Negroni was still anchored in the Italian aperitif culture, low in alcohol and prepared with soda, it was now more alcoholic and adapted to American drinking habits.
The Negroni probably became famous in America because, according to one interpretation, war returnees brought the Italian aperitif culture back with them after the Second World War. The recipe was adapted to the drinking habits prevailing there. People were already used to more alcoholic drinks, because the Martini Cocktail was already drunk as an aperitif. [19] Robert Simonson, however, disagrees. He writes that the Negroni was not very well known to the general public even in the late 1950s. It only became better known when it was reported that celebrities were drinking it. In the 1970s, however, it disappeared from the consciousness until the 1990s, when it was practically non-existent. He continues by saying: “When Italian bartender Francesco Lafranconi – who transplanted to Las Vegas to work for Southern Wine and Spirits (now Southern Glazer’s) – led a class for local bartenders in 2001, one of the the questions on the six-page exam was, ›What’s in a Negroni?‹ That was considered a toughie. Nimety percent of the students had no idea. … By the 2010s, riffs on the drink were doing their part to boost the profile of the mother cocktail. … The result of all these twining trends? Today, not only are there Negronis served at most American bars.” [21-48] [21-49]
Sources
Historical recipes
1927 Jean Lupoiu: 370 recettes de cocktails. Seite 49. Hoffman-House Cocktail.
1 jet Orange Bitters, 1/3 Vermouth
Noilly Prat, 2/3 Nicholson Gin.
Bien mélanger et servir avec un zeste
d’orange.
1927 Jean Lupoiu: 370 recettes de cocktails. Seite 56. Julio Cocktail.
3 jets Bitter Campari , 1/ 6 Rossi,
1/6 Vermouth Cinzano, 2/3 Gin.
(Inventé par l’Auleur, en l’honneur de
M. Haag, Directeur du journal l’Opinion).
1927 Jean Lupoiu: 370 recettes de cocktails. Seite 62. Lone Tree Cocktail.
1/3 Vermouth N . P., 1/3 Cinzano, 1/3
Gin.
Servir avec un zeste de citron.
1927 Marcel Requien & Lucien Farnoux Reynaud: L’Heure du Cocktail. Seite 56. Loving.
1/2 Gin, 1/2 Vermouth blanc Gancia,
deux traits Amer Campari. Frapper à la timbale.
Communiqué par Primo (Primo’s bar, Paris).
1927 Marcel Requien & Lucien Farnoux Reynaud: L’Heure du Cocktail. Seite 56. Mussolini.
1/2 Gin, 3/10 Vermouth italien
2/10 Bitter Campari. Frapper à la timbale et exprimer
un jus de citron.
Communiqué par Charlie Castelloni. (Hermitage, Paris)
1927 Piero Grandi: Cocktails. Seite 59. Za Za Cocktail.
2 gouttes de Campari Bitter, 1/3 de Nichol-
son Gin, 2/3 de Cinzano Vermouth Italien. Mé-
langez bien, versez dans un verre à Cocktail,
seryez avec un cherry.
1929 Anonymus: Cocktails de Paris préséntes par RIP. Camparinette.
1/4 Campari
1/4 Vermouth italien Cora
1/2 Gordon Gin
Servir avec un zeste de citron
ALBERT, du «Chatam».
1929 Anonymus: Cocktails de Paris préséntes par RIP. Charlie Pie.
1/2 Gordon Gin
3/8 Vermouth italien
1/8 Campari
1930 Edgar Baudoin: Les Meilleurs Cocktails. Seite 19. July Cocktail.
3 jets Bitter Campari, 1 /6 Rossi, 1 /6 vermouth Cin-
zano, 2/3 Gin.
1930 Harry McElhone: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. Seite 83. Tunnel Cocktail.
1/3 Gin,1/3 Campari, 1/6 Italian Vermouth, 1/6 French
Vermouth. Shake well, strain into cocktail glass
and squeeze orange peel on top.
This cocktail was awarded Prix d’Honneur at
the International Bar-tenders’ Contest, Paris, 1929.
(Recipe by Bob Card, Harry’s New York Bar,
Paris.)
1934 Harry McElhone: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. Seite 83. Quill Cocktail.
1/3 Campari, 1/3 Rossi, 1/3 Gin, 1 dash of Absinthe.
(Frank C. Payne, New York.)
1934 Harry McElhone: Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. Seite 99. Tunnel Cocktail.
1/3 Gin,1/3 Campari, 1/6 Italian Vermouth, 1/6 French
Vermouth. Shake well, strain into cocktail glass
and squeeze Orange Peel on top.
This cocktail was awarded Prix d’Honneur
at the International Bar-tenders’ Contest, Paris,
1929.
(Recipe by Bob Card, Harry’s New York Bar,
Paris.)
1934 William T. Boothby: „Cocktail Bill“ Boothby’s World Drinks. Seite 39. Camparinete.
Gin . . . . . . . . . . . 1/2 jigger It. Vermouth . . . . . . . . 1/4 jigger
. Campari . . . . . . . 1/4 jigger
Shake well with ice, strain into, chilled cocktail glass, twist lemon peel
over and serve.
1934 William T. Boothby: „Cocktail Bill“ Boothby’s World Drinks. Seite 43. Charlie Pie.
Gin . . . . . . . . . . 1/2 jigger It. Vermouth . . . . . . . . . 3/8 jigger
. Campari . . . . . . . 1/8 jigger
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve.
1934 William T. Boothby: „Cocktail Bill“ Boothby’s World Drinks. Seite 168. Tunnel.
Gin . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 spoons Fr. Vermouth . . . . . . . 3 spoons
It. Vermouth . . . . 2 spoons Campari . . . . . . . . . . . 2 spoons
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass, twist lemon
peel over and serve.
1935 George Pillaert: Le Bar Américan. Seite 23. Paris Cocktail.
CREATION BAR NAPOLEON PARIS
1/4 Gordon’s DRY Gin
1/4 Noilly Prat
1/4 Cinzano
1/4 Campari
1 trait angostura
. Zeste de citron – Tumbler
1935 George Pillaert: Le Bar Américan. Seite 23. Sport.
1/2 Gordon’s DRY Gin
1/4 Cinzano
1/4 Campari
1 trait angostura
Garnir une cerise Tumbler
1935 O. Blunier: The Barkeeper’s Golden Book. Seite 144. Tunnel.
1/6 Italian Vermouth
1/6 French Vermouth
1/3 Campari
1/3 Gin
squeeze Orange peel
1936 Raymond Porta Mingot: Gran Manual de Cocktails. Seite 338. Aquel Club Cocktail.
Usese la cocktelera.
Unos pedacitos de hielo.
4 gotas de Bitter Orange.
1/4 parte de Bitter Campari.
1/4 parte de Dry Gin Sumner’s.
2/4 parte de Vermouth Francés Noilly
Prat.
Agítese, cuélese y sírvase en copa de 100
gramos con una cascarita de limón.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 26. Astoria Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Vermouth
Martini dry, 2/3 de Booth’s Yellow Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 69. Futurity Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Gampari, 1/3 de Martini
Vermouth doux, 2/3 Seager’s Spécial Dry
Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 78. Hoffman House Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Ver-
mouth Martini sec, 2/3 de Gordon’s Dry
Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 86. Julio Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Gampari, 1/6 de Rossi,
1/6 Martini Vermouth sec, 2/3 de Booth’s
Yellow Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1938 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 94. Lone Tree Cocktail.
Dans le shaker:
2 jets de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Martini
Vermouth doux, 1/6 de Martini Vermouth
sec, 2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin.
Agiter légèrement et servir.
1939 Anonymus: Cuna del Daiquiri Cocktail. Seite 44. Negrone.
1 Six ounces glass full of Ice.
1/4 Campari Bitter.
1/2 Dry Gin.
1/2 Vermouth Bitter.
1/2 Vermouth.
Serve it with cherry after squeez-
ing an orange pee!.
Vaso fino de seis onzas lleno de
hielo.
1/4 de Bitter Campari.
1/2 de Ginebra.
1/2 de Vermouth amargo.
1/2 Onza de Vermouth.
Cascara de naranja expri-
mida.
Adórnese con uno guinda.
1940 Pedro Talavera: Los secretos del cocktail. Seite 152. Mi cocktail.
En un gran vaso de cristal, unos pedacitos de hielo.
6 gotas de Bitter Campari.
1/3 copa de Vermouth Martini Rossi.
1/2 ídem de Captain’s Gin.
Agítese bien y se pasa al vaso núm. 3 con una cor-
teza de limón.
1940 Pedro Talavera: Los secretos del cocktail. Seite 240. Lancia cocktail.
En un gran vaso de cristal, unos pedacitos de hielo.
10 gotas de Bitter Campari.
1/2 copa de Vermouth Carpano.
1/2 ídem de Captain’s Gin.
Agítese bien y se pasa al vaso núm. 3, con una
cereza.
1943 Jacinto Sanfeliu Brucart: Cien Cocktails. Seite 29. Camparinete-Cocktail.
Póngase en el vaso mezclador unos pe-
dacitos de hielo y añadir;
1/4 Campari
1/4 Vermut italiano
2/4 Dry Gin
Agítese bien y sírvase en copa de cocktail.
— Fórmula de «Albert», Chatam, París. —
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 17. Astoria Cocktail.
1 trait de Bitter Campari; 1/3 Cinzano Dry;
2/3 Gin.
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 44. Futurity Cocktail.
1 trait de Bitter Campari; 1/3 Cinzano;
2/3 Dry Gin.
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 49. Hoffman House Cocktail.
1 trait de Bitter Campari; 1/3 Cinzano Dry;
2/3 Dry Gin.
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 53. Julio Cocktail.
1 trait de Bitter Campari; 1/6 Rossi;
1/6 Cinzano Dry; 2/3 Gin.
1947 A. Vermeys: Cocktails. Seite 78. Rossi Cocktail.
2 traits de Bitter Campari; 1/3 Apéritif Rossi;
2/3 Dry Gin.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 18. Astoria Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Ver-
mouth Martini dry, 2/3 SEACERS Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 54. Futurity Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini
Vermouth doux, 2/3 Seager’s Spécial Dry
Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 60. Hoffman House Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Ver-
mouth Martini sec, 2/3 de SEAGER’ S Dry
Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 65. Julio Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Gampari, 1/6 de Rossi,
1/6 Martini Vermouth sec, 2/3 de
SEAGER’S Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1948 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 70. Lone Tree Cocktail.
Dans le shaker:
2 jets de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Martini
Vermouth doux, 1/6 de Martini Vermouth
sec, 2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin.
Agiter légèrement et servir.
1948 René Bresson: Le Barman Moderne. Seite 51. Corsaire.
Dans un verre à mélange, avec deux ou trois mor-
ceaux de glace gros comme une noix, mettre- :
20 % Gin.
30 % Rossi.
30 % Campari.
5 gouttes d’angostura.
Un zeste de citron.
1948 René Bresson: Le Barman Moderne. Seite 178. Rossignol.
Dans un verre à mélange, avec deux ou trois mor-
ceaux de glace gros comme une noix, mettre:
25 % Gin
25 % Cinzano.
25 % Campari.
25 % Rossi.
Un zeste d’orange.
1948 René Bresson: Le Barman Moderne. Seite 218. Un Figaro.
Dans un verre à mélange, avec
deux ou trois morceaux de glace
gros comme une noix, mettre:
40 % Gin.
40 % Campari
20 % Vermouth Noilly.
Un zeste de citron.
1948 Trader Vic: Bartender’s Guide. Seite 110. Camparinette Cocktail.
1 oz. gin 1/2 oz. Italian vermouth
. 1/2 oz. campari
Shake with cracked ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.
1948 Trader Vic: Bartender’s Guide. Seite 112. Charley Pie Cocktail.
3/4 oz. gin 1/2 oz. Italian vermouth
. 1/4 oz. campari
Shake with cracked ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.
1949 Jacinto Sanfeliu Brucart: Evolución y arte del cocktail. Seite 153. Negroni-Cocktail.
1/4 de vermut italiano, 2/4 de Campari, 1/4 de Gin.
1949 Jacinto Sanfeliu Brucart: Evolución y arte del cocktail. Seite 170. Tunnel-Cocktail.
1/3 de Gin, 1/3 de Campari, 1/6 de vermut dulce,
1/6 de vermut seco. Exprimir corteza de naranja.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 94. El Morocco Special No. 2.
Courtesy, John Perona
1 jigger Italian vermouth
1 jigger imported gin
1 dash Campari bitters
Ice
Stir well. Strain into cocktail glass. Add twist
lemon peel.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 152. Le Veau D’Or Aperitif.
Courtesy, Henri, Le Veau d’Or, New York City
2 parts gin
2 parts Cinzano
1 part Campari bitters
Service in wine glass with cube of ice, and add
twist lemon peel.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 176. Negrone (Italian apéritif).
Courtesy, Restaurant Marguery, New York City
1 jigger Seager’s imported gin
1 jigger sweet Martini Rossi vermouth
1 jigger Campari bitters
Ice
Stir, and serve very cold in cocktail glass.
Add twist lime peel.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 176. Negroni Capriccio.
Courtesy, Capriccio Restaurant, Rome
1/3 Gordon gin
1/3 Campari bitters
1/3 Cinzano vermouth (sweet)
Finish with a little seltzer, and serve in an old-
fashioned glass with a lot of ice. Add twist orange
peel.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 177. Negroni Doney.
Courtesy, Doney Veneto Restaurant, Rome
1/3 jigger Doney gin
2/3 jigger Doney bitters
1/4 jigger Carpano vermouth
1/2 slice orange
Serve with soda and ice in cocktail glass.
1951 Ted Saucier: Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up. Seite 177. Negroni-Ritz of Paris.
By Georges, The Ritz Bar, Paris
1/4 jigger dry gin
1/2 jigger Italian vermouth
1/4 jigger Campari bitters
Dash Angostura bitters
Ice
Shake well. Strain into old-fashioned glass with
lump ice, half slice orange, half slice lemon,
maraschino cherry.
1952 Anonymus: Cocktails. Seite 97. Tour Eiffel Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1/3 bitter Campari,
1/3 Dolzano,
1/3 gin,
Ajouter un zeste d’orange.
1953 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 169. Campeon.
. 10 gramos de Bitter Campari.
Refrescado. 25 gramos de Gin Gilbey’s.
Servido en una copa de 30 gramos de Vermouth Cin-
100 gramos. zano.
Gamador del premio Ca- 30 gramos de Vermouth Soleil.
pital del concurso de
Fco. Cinzano en 1952.
(Creación de José Bue-
no).
1953 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 227. Negroni.
. 50 gramos de Vermouth To-
Refrescado. rino.
Servido en una copa o 20 gramos de Bitter Rojo.
vaso de 100 gra- 20 gramos de Dry Gin.
mos. Agregar una rodaja de Limón
. con cáscara.
1953 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 74. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Sweet Vermouth.
1/3 Campari Bitters.
Stir and Strain.
Add Twist of Lemon Peel.
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 43. Astoria Cocktail.
Deux traits Bitter Campari
1/3 Vermouth Français
2/3 Gin
Ajouter une olive verte.
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 56. Dolzano Cocktail.
1/4 Bitter Campari
1/4 Gin
1/2 Dolzano
Un zeste d’orange
Un zeste de citron.
(Création des auteurs.)
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 90. Vermouth Cocktail.
Deux traits Bitter Campari
Deux traits Orange Bitter
1/5 Gin
2/5 Vermouth Français
2/5 Vermouth Italien, ajou-
ter un zeste d’orange et un
zeste d citron.
1953 Marcel et Roger Louc: Cocktails et Grand Crus. Seite 107. Tour Eiffel Cocktail.
1/3 Bitter Campari
1/3 Dolzano
1/3 Gin Gordon’s
Ajouter un zeste d’orange.
1954 Marcel Pace: Nos Meilleures boissons. Negroni.
Dans le tumbler In tumbler
glace ice
1/3 GIN
1/3 CAMPARI
1/3 CINZANO
zeste de citron lemon peel
1954 Eddie Clark: King Cocktail. Seite 44. Negroni.
1 measure Campari
1/2 measure Sweet Vermouth
1 measure Gin
Slice of Orange or Lemon
Fill with soda. Goblet
glass.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 22. Astoria Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini
dry, 2/3 SEAGERS Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 61. Futurity Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini,
2/3 Seager’s Special Dry Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 68. Hoffman House Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/3 de Martini
dry, 2/3 de SEAGER’S Dry Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 73. Julio Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1 jet de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Rossi,
1/6 Martini dry, 2/3 de SEAGER’S Gin.
Mélanger et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 78. Lone Tree Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
2 jets de Bitter Campari, 1/6 de Martini,
1/6 de Martini dry, 2/3 Seager’s Special
Dry Gin.
Mélanger légèrement et servir.
1955 Jean Lupoiu: Cocktails. Seite 86. Negroni Cocktail.
Dans le verre à mélange:
1/3 Seager’s Gin, 1/3 Bitter Campari,
1/3 Martini.
Mélanger et servir.
1959 Anonymus: Manual de Cocteleria. #89. Negroni (Long Drink)
En vaso de 10 onzas
1/2 onza de Bitter Campari
1 onza de Ginebra Seca
1 onza de Vermouth Carpano’s Punt e Mes
y soda al gusto
Pedazos de hielo y cascara de naranja.
1960 Anonymus: Recetas para cocteles. Seite 45. Negroni (Long Drink).
En vaso de 10 onzas.
1/2 onza de Bitter Campari
1 onza de Ginebra Seca
1 onza de Vermouth Carpano’s Punt e Mes
y soda al gusto
Pedazos de hielo y cáscara de naranja.
1960 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 75. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Sweet Vermouth.
1/3 Campari Bitters.
Stir and Strain.
Add Twist of Lemon Peel.
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 30. Camparinette.
1/4 Campari
1/4 Vermouth italien
1/2 Gin
1 zeste de citron
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 33. Charlie Pie.
1/2 Gin
3/8 Vermouth italien
1/8 Campari
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 51. Frise-Changhaï.
1/2 Gin
1/2 Vermouth italien
1 trait Campari
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 58. Hoffman House.
1/3 Martini Dry
2/3 Gin
1 trait Campari
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 64. Julio.
1/6 Rossi
1/6 Martini rouge
2/3 Gin
1 trait Campari
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 72. Lone Tree.
1/6 Martini Dry
1/6 Martini blanc
2/3 Gin
2 traits Campari
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 81. Negroni number one.
1/3 Gin
1/3 Campari
1/3 Cinzano rouge
1 zeste de citron
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 81. Negroni two.
1/6 Gin
2/6 Campari
3/6 Martini
1 tranche d’orange
1 cerise
1 zeste de citron
1960 Anonymus: Tout les cocktails et les boissons rafraichissante. Seite 98. Rossi cocktail.
1/3 Rossi
2/3 Gin
2 traits Campari
1963 Eddie Clarke: Shaking in the 60’s. Seite 126. Negroni.
Pour into a goblet glass the following:
1/2 measure Campari
1/2 measure sweet Vermouth
1 measure gin
Add piece of ice and slice of orange or lemon.
Fill with soda water.
1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 64. Amapola Cocktail.
1 bicchiere e 1/3 di dry gin
2/3 di bicchiere di vermouth classico
1 cucchiaio di bitter campari
ghiaccio a cubetti
Introdurre qualche cubetto di ghiaccio nel mixer. Versare
il dry gin ed il vermouth classico e mescolarli usando
l’apposito cucchiaio; aggiungere il bitter campari. Mesco
lare piuttosto forte, lasciar riposare uno o due secondi,
riprendere infine a mescolare ma lentamente. Servire su
bito.
1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 102. Campari Cocktail.
1 bicchiere e 1/3 di dry gin
1/3 di bicchiere di bitter campari
1 cucchiaio di vermouth dry
2 scorzette di limone senza nulla del bianco interno
ghiaccio a cubetti
Introdurre qualche cubetto di ghiaccio nel mixer. Versare
il dry gin, il campari e il vermouth dry. Mescolare piuttosto
forte usando l’apposito cucchiaio, lasciar riposare uno o
due secondi, riprendere infine a mescolare ma lentamente.
Servire subito in bicchieri guarniti con una scorzetta di li-
mone.
1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 199. Negroni Cocktail.
1/3 di bicchiere di dry gin
1/3 di bicchiere di vermouth classico
1/3 di bicchiere di bitter campari
1 fettina di arancia, pelata a vivo
1 cubetto di ghiaccio
Versare direttamente nel bicchiere sul cui fondo avrete
posto un cubetto di ghiaccio, il dry gin, il vermouth clas-
sico ed il bitter campari. Guarnire con la fettina di aran-
cia e servire.
1964 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 139. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Vermouth dulce.
1/3 Bitter Campari.
1/2 rodaja de naranja.
1 trozo grande de hielo.
Preparai en un vaso largo.
1964 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 227. Negroni.
. 30 gramos de Vermouth To-
Refrescado. rino.
Servido en una copa o 30 gramos de Bitter Rojo.
vaso de 200 gramos. 30 gramos de Dry Gin.
Uno trozo de hielo. Agregar una rodaja de naran-
. ja con cáscara.
1965 Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 Cocktails. Seite 88. Tunnel Cocktail.
(Bob Cord,
Harry’s New York Bar, Paris)
1/3 dry Gin
1/3 Campari
1/6 Cinzano rot
1/6 Cinzano weiß
im shaker mit Eis schütteln, ins
Cocktailglas seihen und mit
1 Orangenschale abspritzen
1965 Aladar von Wesendonk: 888 Cocktails. Seite 102. Campari News.
1/4 Campari
1/4 italienischer Vermouth rot
1/4 italienischer Vermouth dry
1/4 Gin dry
1 Cumquat ins Glas
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 78. Negroni.
1/3 Dry Gin.
1/3 Sweet Vermouth.
1/3 Campari Bitters.
Prepare in glass; add cube
of ice.
1/2 Slice of Orange.
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 146. Campeon.
1st Prize Capital Competition
Cinzano 1952
1/4 Cinzano Vermouth
1/4 French Vermouth
3/8 Dry Gin Gilbey
1/8 Bitter Campari.
Iced
Created by Jose Bueno
1965 Anonymus: The U.K.B.G. Guide to Drinks. Seite 161. Cardinale.
3/5 Dry Gin
1/5 Dry Vermouth
1/5 Bitter Campari
Shake and strain in
Cocktail glass
1965 Harry Schraemli: Manuel du bar. Seite 441. Negroni Cocktail.
1/4 Punt e Mès (Carpano), 1/4 gin, 1/2 Campari. Agiter brièvement.
1966 Harry Schraemli: Le roi du bar. Seite 128. Negroni Cocktail.
Shaker. 1/4 Punt e Mès (Carpano), 1/4 gin,
1/2 Campari. ZO. [Orangenzeste]
1966 John Doxat: Booth’s Handbook of Cocktails and Mixed Drinks. Seite 57. Negroni.
2 oz. Dry Gin
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth
1 oz. Campari
Pour over ice in tall goblet; top with Soda-Water; add
slice of Orange.
1966 Mario Kardahi: Tratado Practico de Coctelería, Pastelería y Afines. Seite 164. Negroni.
. . 30 grs. de Vermouth Torino.
Refrescado. 30 ” de Bitter Rojo.
Servir en vaso para 30 gr. de Dry Gin.
O. Fashioned con Agregar una rodaja de piel
hielo. de limón.
1966 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 72. Negroni Highball.
Lump of ice in Highball Glass with:
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth. 1 oz. Campari Bitter. 1 oz. Gin.
Fill wih Canada Dry Club Soda. Twist of Lemon Peel and
slice of Orange on top. Stir.
1969 Mario Kardahi & Raul Echenique: El arte de la exquisitez y del buen beber. Seite 360. Negroni.
Refrescado. Servir en vaso de Old Fashioned.
30 gramos de Vermouth Torino,
30 ” ” Bitter Rojo,
30 ” ” Dry Gin.
Agregar una rodaja de cáscara de limón
1972 Anonymus: Recipes – Wines and Spirits. Seite 18. Negroni.
To make 1 cocktail
2 ice cubes
1 1/2 ounces Carpano or sweet
vermouth
1 1/2 ounces Campari bitters
1 1/2 ounces gin
1 strip lemon peel
A 6-ounce old-fashioned glass
Place the ice cubes in the old-fashioned glass and add the Carpano or
sweet vermouth, bitters and gin. Stir the ingredients together briefly and
drop in the lemon peel.
1972 Leo Cotton: Old Mr. Seite 67. Negronis.
3/4 oz. Old Mr. Boston Dry Gin
3/4 oz. Campari Bitters
3/4 oz. Sweet or Dry Vermouth
Shake well with cracked ice and
strain into Old Fashioned cocktail
glass. May also be served over ice
cubes in 8 oz. highball glass adding
carbonated water and stirring.
1972 Trader Vic: Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. Seite 119. Cardinal Cocktail.
1 part bitter Campari
1 part gin
1 part French vermouth
Shake with ice cubes. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Add
a twist of lemon peel.
1972 Trader Vic: Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. Seite 125. Negroni.
1/2 ounce bitter Campari
1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce Italian vermouth
Pour into old fashioned glass filled with ice cubes. Stir well.
Add a twist of lemon peel.
1973 Anonymus: 500 Ways to Mix Drinks. Seite 39. Negroni Cocktail.
1/3 bitter Campari Aperitivo
1/3 gin
1/3 Italian vermouth
Shake well with ice and strain
into a cocktail glass.
1973 Oscar Haimo: Cocktail and Wine Digest. Seite 72. Negroni Highball.
Lump of Ice in Highball
Glass with:
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth, 1 oz. Compari Bitters, 1 oz. Gin.
Fill with Canada Dry Club Soda. Twist of Lemon Peel and
slice of Orange on top. Stir.
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 59. Negroni.
1/3 gin
1/3 sweet vermouth
1/3 Campari bitters
Prepare in glass; add ice.
1/2 slice of orange
Soda water if desired.
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 105. Campeon.
1/4 Cinzano vermouth (dry, sweet
or bianco)
1/4 French vermouth
3/8 Gilbey’s dry gin
1/8 bitter Campari
Ice
José Bueno.
1st Prize Capital Competition
Cinzano 1952
1976 Anonymus: International Guide to Drinks. Seite 121. Casanova Cocktail.
6/10 Beefeater’s gin
3/10 bitter Campari
1/10 Carpano
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Mixing glass
1976 Brian F. Rea – Brian’s Booze Guide. Seite 67. Negroni.
Stir/strain into pre-chilled cocktail glass
3⁄4 ounce sweet Vermouth
3⁄4 ounce Campari
1 1⁄2 ounces Gin
Lemon twist
1976 Brian F. Rea – Brian’s Booze Guide. Seite 67. Negroni Highball.
Made with same ingredients and portions as above, except
drink is served in highball glass with ice cubes, then soda
is added.
1976 Harry Craddock: The Savoy Cocktail Book. Seite 110. Negroni.
3/4 oz. Dry Gin.
3/4 oz. Campari.
3/4 oz. Sweet or Dry
Vermouth.
Stir with ice and strain into
cocktail glass, over ice cubes,
with or without a splash of
carbonated water. Add twist
of lemon peel.
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 196. Negroni.
According to the Campari people the recipe is:
cocktail glass Stir
1/3 Campari
1/3 gin
1/3 sweet vermouth
If you use dry vermouth the drink becomes a Cardinal. Variations include the use of lemon
and orange peels and bitters.
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 245. Camparinette.
Cocktail Glass Stir
1 oz gin
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
3/4 oz Campari
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 247. Cardinal.
Cocktail Glass Stir
1 oz gin
3/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz dry vermouth
Lemon twist
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 250. Charley Pie.
Cocktail Glass Stir
1 oz gin
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz Campari
(See Negroni)
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 348. Negroni.
Cocktail Glass Stir/Shake
1 oz gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari
Variation
Serve on the rocks with
Soda splash
Lemon twist
(Similar to Americano)
1977 Stan Jones: Jones’ Complete Barguide. Seite 349. Negronis.
Old Fashioned Glass Build
3/4 oz gin
3/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
Fill with ice, soda
Lemon twist
(1 dash bitters optional)
1980 Anonymus: Manual del bar. Seite 137. Negroni.
30 gramos de Dry Gin
30 gramos de vermouth
Torino
30 gramos de bitter rojo
Se prepara directamente en
el vaso tipo highball con
hielo, 1/2 rodaja de na~
ranja.
2009 Anistatia Miller & Jarred Brown: Spirituous Journey Book Two. Seite 196. Negroni. 1 part London dry gin; 1 part Campari; 1 part sweet vermouth; garnish: orange twist. Cocktail glass or over ice in a tumbler.
2009 Gaz Regan: The Bartender’s Gin Compendium. Seite 307. Negroni. 45 ml Campari; 45 ml sweet vermouth; 45 ml gin; garnish: 1 orange twist. Ice-filled old-fashioned glas.
2009 Ted Haigh: Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Seite 295. The Negroni. 3 cl gin or vodka; 3 cl sweet vermouth; 3 cl Campari; garnish: orange wheel.
2010 Colin Peter Field: The Ritz Paris: Mixing Drinks. Seite 68. Negroni. 3/10 Beefeater 24 London dry gin; 3/10 Martini Rosso; 4/10 Campari;
2010: Jason Kosmas & Dushan Zaric: Speakeasy. Seite 42. Negroni. 1 1/4 ounces Plymouth gin; 1 1/4 ounces Campari; 1 1/4 ounces Cinzano sweet vermouth; garnish: 1 orange twist or half-wheel. cocktail glass or ice-filled rocks glass.
2011 Brad Thomas Parsons: Bitters. Seite 137. Negroni. 1 ounce gin; 1 ounce Campari; 1 ounce sweet vermouth; 1 dash orange bitters (optional); garnish: flamed orange peel.
2011 Helmut Adam, Jens Hasenbein & Bastian Heuser: Cocktailian 1. Seite 472. Negroni. 2 cl Campari; 2 cl roter Wermut; 2 cl Gin; Garnitur: Orangenzeste. Auf Eis.
2011 Jim Meehan: Das Geheime Cocktailbuch. Seite 188. Negroni. 4 cl Beefeater Gin; 4 cl Campari; 4 cl Martini Rosso. Garnierung: Orangenschale. Cocktailglas oder auf Eis im Tumbler.
2012 Gaz Regan: The Negroni. Seite 11. “I tend toward around four parts gin to one part each of sweet vermouth and Campari.”
2012 Tom Sandham: World’s Best Cocktails. Seite 22. Negroni. 30 ml gin; 30 ml Campari; 30 ml sweet vermouth; garnish: orange slice. Ice cubes.
2013 Tristan Stephenson: The Curious Bartender. Seite 69. Negroni. 25 ml Tanqueray No. Ten Gin; 25 ml Campari; 25 ml Martini Rosso Vermouth; garnish: Slice of Lemon (or Grapefruit). Rocks glass with cubed ice.
2014 Dave Arnold: Liquid Intelligence. Seite 131. Negroni. 30 ml sweet vermouth; 30 ml gin; 30 ml Campari; garnish: orange or grapefruit twist. Coupe glass or over large rock in an old-fashioned glass.
2014 David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald & Alex Day: Death & Co. Seite 147. Negroni. 1 1/2 ounces Tanqueray London dry gin; 1 ounce Campari; 1 ounce house sweet vermouth; garnish: orange twist. Double rocks glass. Seite 284. House sweet vermouth: 1 part Dolin rouge vermouth, 1 part Punt e Mes.
2015 Duggan McDonnell. Drinking at the Devils Acre. Seite 77. Negroni. 30 ml No. 209 gin; 30 ml Italian vermouth; 30 ml Campari; garnish: orange peel.
2016 André Darlington & Tenaya Darlington: The New Cocktail Hour. Seite 91. Negroni. 45 ml gin (Plymouth or Bluecoat); 30 ml sweet vermouth (Cocchi or Carpano Antica); 22 ml Campari or Luxardo Aperitivo; garnish: 1/2 wheel of orange. Coupe or rocks glass over ice.
2016 Brad Thomas Parsons: Amaro. Seite 107. Negroni. 1 ounce gin; 1 ounce Campari; 1 ounce sweet vermouth; garnish: orange zest.
2016 Brian Silva: Mixing in the Right Circles at Balthazar London. Seite 53. Negroni. 35 ml Beefeater Gin; 25 ml Campari; 15 ml Martini Rosso; garnish: orange slice. Old Fashioned glass with ice.
2016 Philip Greene: The Manhattan. Seite 180. Negroni. 1 ounce Hendrick’s, Ford’s, or any good London Dry Gin; 1 ounce Martini sweet vermouth; 1 ounce Campari; garnish: orange peel. Rocks glass with large ice cubes.
2017 Gary Regan: The Joy of Mixology. Seite 254. Negroni. 1 1/2 ounces Campari; 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth; 1 1/2 ouncesgin; garnish: 1 orange twist.
2018 Alex Day, Nick Fauchald, David Kaplan: Cocktail Codex. Seite 89. Negroni. 1 ounce Tanqueray gin; 1 ounce Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth; 1 ounce Campari; garnish: 1 orange half wheel.
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