Equal parts vermouth, Campari and gin—the magic trio, the holy trinity, the rule of three. Together, they make a negroni, one of the world’s finest cocktails. But what happens when you tinker with the spell? Here are 5 ways to hack your negroni.
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The negroni is a cocktail that has grown huge in popularity in recent years and for very good reason. The balance of bitter, sweet, herbaceous and boozy is truly intoxicating. Plus it’s one of the easiest cocktails to make.
But behind its simplicity, the negroni is also a wonderfully adaptable canvas that you can add to, take away from and change ingredients with some startlingly tasty results.
1. Amplify Your Gin
Gin is a complicated spirit. Depending on what the distiller has made it with, your gin might be sweet, spicy, salty or herbaceous. It might be a powerful gin or something that is gentler and floral.
All too often, we follow the ‘equal parts’ rule of a negroni too hard and fast, and the gin drowns in the other flavours.
Adding 1.5 or even double the amount of gin to your negroni allows the gin to sing louder and bring some of its subtler flavours to the fore.
Banks & Solander’s Ora Gin has delicate Japanese flavours of kombu, sake, ginger and miso that really shine in a gin X2 negroni.
2. Cut The Campari
Campari is an incredible drink, but at the end of the day it’s still an amaro—a bitter aperitivo with a strong orange flavoured backbone. There are lots of amaros out there worth playing with that can add different things to your negroni.
Aperol is lighter and sweeter than Campari, and an easy option. However, the lesser-known but equally good Select is somewhere between the two.
Amaro Montenegro instead of Campari (a ‘Montenegroni’ to some) makes a slightly sweeter and more citrusy drink. Swapping out Campari for Cynar (it’s called a Cin-Cyn by the way) is gentler on the palate than Campari.
Australian craft distillers have also thrown their hats in the ring with the likes of Rhubi Mistelle made from rhubarb and Ester Distillery’s Alternativo Aperitivo. Rhubi is an intensely bright aperitivo that’s sweeter than it is bitter, and Ester’s efforts are simply on point for a superb classic Aussie negroni.
3. Look Beyond London Dry
There are so many styles of gin around that make such a difference to a negroni. Try coffee-laced gins, barrel-aged gins or berry-flavoured gins like sloe gin to bend the flavours of your negroni.
This is the easiest change you can make to a negroni in your search for your favourite recipe.
4. Swap Out The Gin
Don’t get stuck in the gin rut with negronis. There are lots of other options. Using whisky instead of gin (known as a boulevardier) is excellent, though you’ll need to adjust the other ingredients a little depending on the whisky.
For something a little different, give rum a try. Its natural sweetness and spiciness are perfect matches for the bittersweet of the other ingredients.
For something a lot different, try mezcal as a gin replacement. This smoky unctuous spirit turns the average negroni into a deep, resinous, sophisticated drink perfect for sipping.
5. Turn It White
For most of us, a negroni’s trademark is its deep red colour. But what if you change all of that?
Swap out the red (sweet) vermouth for Lillet Blanc (you can also try mixing together dry vermouth and white vermouth) and instead of the bright red of Campari, use a bitter gentian liqueur like Suze, Salers or Aveze.
You’re left with a clear, slightly amber cocktail, but still undeniably one with all the hallmarks of one of the world’s great drinks.
Bonus: Smoke It Up
Adding smoke to a negroni not only amps up the flavours, it also adds a fun bit of food theatre to things.
I love my Smoking Cocktail kit. You put the smoker over your glass, add wood chips and light them. The smoke fills the glass and infuses with your negroni, and when you lift the smoker off the glass, smoke drifts out. Very dramatic!
