Elegant, complex, beloved…Italy’s Negroni cocktail is celebrating its one-hundredth birthday this year. Despite its centenarian status, the 1:1:1 ratio recipe of equal parts gin, vermouth, and Campari is a modern bartender and patron favorite and has inspired spin-offs of dizzying varieties. Its mesmerizing iridescent orange-red color alone begs you to dive right into one.
A striking balance of woodsy bitters with a whisper of sweetness and the potential to hit you like a velvet hammer, the Negroni came into being in a rather serendipitous manner. Count Camillo Negroni, an aristocratic regular at the Café Casoni in Florence, must’ve had a rather grueling day doing whatever a Count does. The popular Americano cocktail – a combination of soda water, sweet vermouth, and Campari bitters – was typically his drink of choice, but this day it was inadequate to assuage the day’s frustrations. He proclaimed to his friend, bartender Fosco Scarselli: “We don’t need no stinking soda water – add a slug of gin!” Well, the quote may be far-fetched, but the gin was not!
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Cin cin…the Negroni had been born. The Count’s surly mood must’ve brightened noticeably – others soon were asking for an Americano “the Negroni way.” This triple threat cocktail, garnished with an orange peel rather than the Americano’s lemon, rose in popularity in and around Florence.
The Count himself was as colorful as his namesake drink. Born to an Italian father of aristocratic linage and an English mother, Camillo was quite a trail-blazer long before that eventful day in the bar. As a young man, he heeded the old cry to “go west” (in part to avoid the Italian draft) and found himself cowboying on the open plains of the American west. Sounds like fodder for a good story over a drink, but evidence backs up the claim. A 1928 article by the Spokane Chronicle reporter Bob Davis speaks of his encounter in Italy with a cowboy straddling a Mexican saddle. Asked if he spoke English, the Count slung back, “You’re tootin’ I do, hombre!” I wouldn’t doubt that a hearty “Yee haw!” went along with that.
The Count’s other adventures included performing in an American wild west show, rolling as a high stake’s gambler, and even a gig as a fencing instructor (after all, he’s a Count) in New York City. It’s not hard to imagine, then, that Camillo was rather familiar with drinks of the hard variety.
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As the Tequila Sunrise cocktail was to the 1970s, the Negroni has emerged as the hip drink of a new generation of cocktail enthusiasts here in America. But it wasn’t always so acclaimed. From its inception in 1919 in a fashionable Florence café, the Negroni gained local popularity for a time. However, delving into libation history reveals little mention beyond the first few years of its existence. Looking through the lens of time, it’s easy to understand: Italy came under Fascist rule in 1922. Anything so unabashedly degenerate as cocktails and having some carefree fun was inexcusable. But like the Count himself, the drink was tough; although in the shadows for a time, it would reemerge and ascend to celebrity status.
And a few celebrities helped it along the way. Post-WWII festivities in Italy – the period known as Dopoguerra – were punctuated with symbols of a new era. The Vespa made its glamorous appearance and drinking crimson red Campari was an economically-friendly symbol of this newfound dolce vita …or at least of heartfelt attempts to reestablish it. American celebrities vied to see and be seen in chic, rising-from-war’s-ashes Italy as they drank and fake-feigned paparazzi in Rome’s popular cafés. Orson Welles did his share for bolstering the emergent Italian economy, single-fisting many a Negroni while filming in Rome. In 1947, he penned a letter to American gossip columnist and TV personality Erskine Johnson declaring his affinity for the seductive cocktail he’d come upon in Rome — “…the bitters (Campari) are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you…they balance each other out.” Other well-known American celebrities and high society folks of the era fell quickly in line, serving this fashionable Italian concoction to the delight of their guests.
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Through the 1950s, all the way into the 1980s, the Negroni remained an elegant, albeit quiet, classic both here and in Italy. Purists and those looking for something iconic knew the timelessness of this holy-trinity of cocktails and ordered up, much to the delight of appreciative bartenders. It wasn’t until the 1990s, however, when cocktails became “the thing” once again, that the Negroni began the journey to noble prominence. Helped along by the appearance and popularity of microbreweries and small-batch distilleries, spirits such as gin soared in popularity, along with age-old additives such as bitters. Like laying mortar for bricks, these trends primed the comeback and ascension of the Negroni.
Whether coincidence or not, shareholders at Campari showed impeccable timing when they leapt at the chance to create a strong presence in the United States, through the 2009 acquisition of an established American distillery. This captivating flaming red Campari, the third essential ingredient for a Negroni, was thrust front and center into the mindfulness of American imbibers through carefully executed showings at trade shows, genius marketing strategies, and just plain old fun such as sponsoring the World’s Largest Negroni and declaring 2011 as “The Year of the Negroni.” Who wouldn’t take a second glance at something so seductively beguiling and Italian?
The hippest 100-year-old around, Negroni is celebrated on Instagram (what a photogenic drink!), in books dedicated to its history and dazzling variations, even Negroni-only clubs showcasing the flamboyant beauty. The Negroni even has its own week. Initiated as a partnership in 2013 by industry magazine Imbibe and Campari, the “Negroni Week” occurs in late June as a way to celebrate the iconic cocktail…and raise money for charity. What a tasty concept! This year’s event features almost 10,000 venues around the world serving Negronis as they make donations to sanctioned charities. Since its inception, over $2 million has been raised…along with many a glass of Negroni.
One part gin, one part sweet Vermouth, one part Campari – simple to make, complex in flavor; wildly popular and elegantly cool; a red velvet hammer, not for the faint of palate. Happy Birthday to you, Negroni – here’s to the next 100!
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