Negroni recipe
Notes on The Negroni
The scene: Caffè Casoni, Florence Italy, 1919. Count Camillo Negroni walks in and asks the bartender, “Make me an Americano†— but stronger.” The count had picked up taste for the harder stuff while working as a rodeo clown in the American west. “Replace the soda water with gin‡.”
And thus a classic was born.
The Negroni is somewhat unusual about cocktail in that its origins are authoritatively known. The story about the count is real and we know this is where the cocktail originated. It’s said that the bartender riffed on the Americano recipe just slightly and swapped out the traditional lemon garnish, for an orange.
†An “Americano” in this context is a tall drink of equal parts Sweet Vermouth and Campari, topped with soda water and garnished with lemon.
‡ Dialogue created for dramatic storytelling purposes only.