They are all the rage thanks to Stanley Tucci and his Covid cocktail videos. With his sophisticated monotone voice he tells you they are like breasts "One is good, two is perfect, three is too much and I'm interested in four" it's the Negroni.
With equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and the never substituted Campari. A bartender in Portofino, Italy once told me:
"You can add whatever gin you'd like, switch up the vermouth but always and I mean always a Negroni is made with Campari"
My now Fiancé was on a bit of a Negroni kick in the winter of 2022, we were in Paris and I wasn't drinking much at the time but was interested in why she kept ordering this drink. "Let me have a sip" she reluctantly handed me the cocktail and instead of sip I took a swig.
"HOLY SHIT"
I felt drunk instantly. It was strong, it was bitter and now I'm buzzin. "You idiot, you sip it." She said. Like a big boy I ordered one of my own and sipped it proper and was hooked. It became the drink of the trip, in Jazz bars sipping one made you feel alive. But we outdid ourselves and pickled our livers and had to take a break.
I didn't realize they were an icon of the Italian summer and with a big trip planned in the summer of 2023, Meghan and I were on the quest for the perfect Negroni about town while in Charleston.
We like the one at Little Jacks, Post House Inn and Sorelle. I also made us some at home Negronis that would have peeled the paint off the walls. Needless to say we were excited about the prospects of Negroni summer.
We land in Italy and come to find out the boujee drink that bars will charge $18 to $24 dollars in the States you can get LITERALLY ANYWHERE in Italy for 5 to 7 euros.
All the buzz, none of the pretentious attitude in Italy. They came in all shapes and sizes, outdoor Negroni, plastic cup Togroni, Negroni by the sea, Aperitivo Groni with some chips and then the nightcap groni at the gelato shop.
I had a lovely Negroni in Tuscany that was two euro fifty, it was so good and priced so low I chose not to photograph it out of respect, hoping people would stumble upon the treasure like I did.
Not surprisingly we haven't had too many Negronis since we've been back from Italy. It isn't a money thing either, we would happily pay $15+ for a quality Negroni, call us Icarus because I think we just flew too close to the sun with them. Sea soaked and kissed by the Italian sun in a city where no one knows who you are is the place for a Negroni. Where the bar doesn't try to sex it up with Mezcal or cinnamon, they just slap it down on the table the only way they know how.
The proper way.
In conclusion, don't ever be ashamed to order a Negroni. They aren't a stuck up snobby drink, they are easy to make and most bars don't even know they have all the ingredients when they say they can't do them here in America. They are in fact overpriced in the states and there is no need to have three or four in a night.
But.......
Better in Italy.
You won't know till you go, so book that flight.