[jsmeeker]

Yeah.. I understand all that. Not really complaining, rather just commenting how much more afforably I can enjoy a nice cocktail if I drink gin instead of Tequila. :)

[mkayahara]

slkinsey, on Mar 12 2008, 02:46 PM, said:

Tanqueray, on the other hand, I feel is an absolutely first-rate product and while some might prefer other brands I'd be hard put to say that any other brand of gin was definitively "better."  This is a fairly common feeling among cocktailian circles.

I assume this opinion applies only to the full-strength Tanqueray? I've only ever tasted it at 40% abv, and I find it pretty bland, especially when compared to products like Plymouth or Broker's. The same goes for Beefeater. One of these days, I'd love to find out what I'm missing...

[thirtyoneknots]

slkinsey, on Mar 12 2008, 02:11 PM, said:

thirtyoneknots, on Mar 12 2008, 02:47 PM, said:

. . . The [gins] that are over $25 or so for a bottle are typically (with notable exceptions, see Junipero) of a softer more modern style. . .

Most, but not all of them, created with vodka-drinkers in mind, IMO.

Agreed. Juniper is the hottest flavored vodka going

[thirtyoneknots]

mkayahara, on Mar 12 2008, 03:08 PM, said:

slkinsey, on Mar 12 2008, 02:46 PM, said:

Tanqueray, on the other hand, I feel is an absolutely first-rate product and while some might prefer other brands I'd be hard put to say that any other brand of gin was definitively "better."  This is a fairly common feeling among cocktailian circles.

I assume this opinion applies only to the full-strength Tanqueray? I've only ever tasted it at 40% abv, and I find it pretty bland, especially when compared to products like Plymouth or Broker's. The same goes for Beefeater. One of these days, I'd love to find out what I'm missing...

Never seen these bottled at less than 94 proof, but I think the other brands you mentioned are also excellent. Not ssure if Broker's is a completely new brand or if it's just recently been imported but I like that it's not afraid to have a more traditional profile.

Not to get off-topic about Negronis or anything...

[Mayur]

slkinsey, on Mar 12 2008, 03:23 PM, said:

The beauty of the Negroni (and most, if not all, cocktails) is that you can make successful, albeit different iterations with a wide variety of brands.  The only brand-specific ingredient is Campari, and even there I wonder what it might be like with Luxardo Bitter.

Negronis work just fine with Luxardo Bitter; it's what I use to make 'em. (Actually, being a cheap bastard, I sub Luxardo bitter for Campari in practically everything.)

[Nathan]

Naren Young made me an interesting take on the Negroni last night....his absurdly named "Chocolate Negroni"...regular Negroni proportions and ingredients plus a scant half ounce of creme de cacao.

it works....somehow.

[hathor]

Nathan, on Aug 20 2008, 07:16 AM, said:

Naren Young made me an interesting take on the Negroni last night....his absurdly named "Chocolate Negroni"...regular Negroni proportions and ingredients plus a scant half ounce of creme de cacao.

it works....somehow.

Not such a strange name, the Negroni is named after the Florentine Count Negroni.

[Nathan]

hathor, on Aug 20 2008, 07:54 AM, said:

Nathan, on Aug 20 2008, 07:16 AM, said:

Naren Young made me an interesting take on the Negroni last night....his absurdly named "Chocolate Negroni"...regular Negroni proportions and ingredients plus a scant half ounce of creme de cacao.

it works....somehow.

Not such a strange name, the Negroni is named after the Florentine Count Negroni.

huh?

my point is that it's a standard rule of thumb that any drink with "chocolate" in the title is automatically rubbish.

the joke is that this one is not.

[freshherbs]

Nathan, on Aug 20 2008, 10:14 AM, said:

hathor, on Aug 20 2008, 07:54 AM, said:

Nathan, on Aug 20 2008, 07:16 AM, said:

Naren Young made me an interesting take on the Negroni last night....his absurdly named "Chocolate Negroni"...regular Negroni proportions and ingredients plus a scant half ounce of creme de cacao.

it works....somehow.

Not such a strange name, the Negroni is named after the Florentine Count Negroni.

huh?

my point is that it's a standard rule of thumb that any drink with "chocolate" in the title is automatically rubbish.

the joke is that this one is not.

I was at Bobo in the W Village last night and saw the Chocolate Negroni on the menu and shuddered. It did inspire me to order a standard Negroni (rocks) though...and it hit the spot. They also shook up a very nice Ramos Gin Fizz there.

[Bricktop]

This afternoon, after re-reading the thread from the beginning with the new posts, I decided to play around with the Negroni based on ideas presented. I've always made them the 1:1:1 way, playing around some with the gin (usually Tanqueray) and vermouth (Vya if feeling flush, M&R otherwise), but today was a day to put a different spin on it, so..

1.5 Tanqueray Rangpur
1.0 Carpano Antica
1.0 Campari
A few good dashes of Fees Orange Bitters.

Built over ice, and served on the rocks.

Freaking amazing! Best Negroni I have had by far. Most complex certainly. I can't point to specifically if it was the gin, the Carpano or the bitters, any two or all three, but this was a dangerously good drink.

[Nathan]

Carpano brings a lot to a Negroni.

[Mike S.]

The "Cinnabar Negroni" has become my favorite: 1.5 oz Campari, .75 oz each gin and vermouth, dashes orange bitters (I like Regan's). Awesome.

But I'll definitely try one with Rangpur, I very much like that stuff.

[tikibars]

I did three different Negroni recipes last night, all using methods found on this thread. Gal Friday Night and I compared.

This was an experiment in ratios: we used Beefeater gin, a fairly generic red vermouth, and "old" campari.

We did the classic 1:1:1, plus Toby's (Alchemist) 2 gin, 1 vermouth, .5 Campari ("for people who don't know they like gin yet"... but we certainly do!), and someone else's (sorry, it is buried back on page 1 somewhere) flip on that with 1 gin, 1 vermouth and 2 Campari.

We found the latter to be just too much Campari, the gin and vermouth get lost and it becomes a gas of Campari with a few modifiers in it.

We liked Toby's and the classic, and think both have their uses - the classic most of the time, but Toby's when looking for a bit less of the bitter bite of Campari.

Next refinement is to do three more, with the same ratios, but different gins....

[Alchemist]

I usually throw three dashes of Regan's Orange bitters in my version, and a flamed orange twist (discarded) as a garnish.

Toby

[TMFIII]

My favorite Negroni recipe so far has been one ounce each Aviation gin, Campari and Noilly Prat sweet vermouth with two dashes Angostura Orange and two dashes Fee's Rhubarb Bitters.

Ummmmm!

Cheers!

[hathor]

Reporting from cocktail challenged Italy:
The negroni, and the gin&tonic are about the only two 'cocktails' that you can reliably find in Umbria, the rest is a crap shoot. We walked into a bar near Lago Tresimeno and asked if they could make a Manhattan (it's about 50/50 if you can get a Manhattan, never made with rye, the best you can hope for is Canadian Club). The bartender told us, "No. I only make Italian cocktails." So, we had a Negroni.

But, I digress from my question: Is there really such a thing as a "Perfect Negroni"? The menu, at a bar in Perugia, showed that they swapped Proseco for gin. I wasn't in the mood for experimentation, so I didn't try it.
Has anyone tasted a Perfect Negroni?

[weinoo]

hathor, on Sep 7 2008, 10:55 AM, said:

Has anyone  tasted a Perfect Negroni?

I haven't tasted the perfect one yet, though all those I've forced myself to taste are pretty damn good, provided they're made with some variety of decent gin, Campari and some variety of sweet vermouth.

That thing you describe, subbing prosecco for gin, has no business being called a Negroni. Just leave out the prosecco and have an Americano, please.

[hathor]

weinoo, on Sep 7 2008, 08:24 AM, said:

hathor, on Sep 7 2008, 10:55 AM, said:

Has anyone  tasted a Perfect Negroni?

I haven't tasted the perfect one yet, though all those I've forced myself to taste are pretty damn good, provided they're made with some variety of decent gin, Campari and some variety of sweet vermouth.

That thing you describe, subbing prosecco for gin, has no business being called a Negroni. Just leave out the prosecco and have an Americano, please.

I think I'm with you on this. The menu also had a "Perfect Manhattan"... Canadian Club and a mix of sweet and dry vermouth. Perfect it wasn't.

[Sneakeater]

"Perfect" is just a term meaning you use half sweet and half dry vermouth. So they're accurate in calling that a Perfect Manhattan. (Too bad about the CC as base liquor, though.) A Perfect Manhattan isn't necessarily a perfect Manhattan.

BTW, based on a cocktail I had at Convivio (a restaurant in New York) last month, I've taken to doubling the amount of Carpano Antica I use in my Negronis, and halving the amount of Campari. Maybe I'm a wimp, but I think it produces a drink with a delicious flavor.

This post has been edited by Sneakeater: 07 September 2008 - 08:53 AM

[tikibars]

Also, I meant to add in my previous post that we DID use a dash of orange bitters in each of the drinks, but we didn't have an orange on hand for the flame.
(also typo: gas = glass)

So, last night we did another test, with the classic 1:1:1 ratio (measured extremely carefully), and with a flaming orange zest over each of them, but with three different gins.

I only had some fairly standard gins on hand, Beefeater, Sapphire, and Tanqueray.

We were surprised to find that the Bombay Sapphire worked the best of the three in the Negroni. (In one of my own drinks, the Velo - recipe listed on the St Germain thread - the Sapphire was the LEAST appealing gin of the bunch).

The Beefeater seemed to be a little sweeter than the others, and the Tanqueray was not bad at all but just not as complex or interesting in this drink as the other two.

So I guess the next step is a third test with three different vermouths....

[Sneakeater]

To me, Carpano Antica is so superior in this drink to anything else I tried that it's not even close.

[weinoo]

Sneakeater, on Sep 7 2008, 12:17 PM, said:

To me, Carpano Antica is so superior in this drink to anything else I tried that it's not even close.

Totally agree...I wonder how often you'd see it used in Italy in a Negroni.

[Sneakeater]

I certainly never have.

[Nathan]

Sneakeater, on Sep 7 2008, 09:17 AM, said:

To me, Carpano Antica is so superior in this drink to anything else I tried that it's not even close.

yup!

[hathor]

weinoo, on Sep 7 2008, 11:21 AM, said:

Sneakeater, on Sep 7 2008, 12:17 PM, said:

To me, Carpano Antica is so superior in this drink to anything else I tried that it's not even close.

Totally agree...I wonder how often you'd see it used in Italy in a Negroni.

Mitch, forgive me because you've been hearing me whine all summer.....but I have looked EVERYWHERE in central Italy and Carpano Antica can NOT be found!! What region does this stuff come from?? I just went to their website and maybe the next time I'm in Roma or Firenze.... I can sample this elixir.

[weinoo]

hathor, on Sep 9 2008, 04:59 AM, said:

weinoo, on Sep 7 2008, 11:21 AM, said:

Sneakeater, on Sep 7 2008, 12:17 PM, said:

To me, Carpano Antica is so superior in this drink to anything else I tried that it's not even close.

Totally agree...I wonder how often you'd see it used in Italy in a Negroni.

Mitch, forgive me because you've been hearing me whine all summer.....but I have looked EVERYWHERE in central Italy and Carpano Antica can NOT be found!! What region does this stuff come from?? I just went to their website and maybe the next time I'm in Roma or Firenze.... I can sample this elixir.

It's from Turin - and it would be really weird if you had to have someone visiting you from the states bringing a bottle of Antica to you in Italy . I would think it would be pretty findable in Rome - if my memory serves me correctly, there's a pretty good liquor store right at Campo de Fiori that carries it. Certainly(?) Milan.

[kermie]

Actually as a negroni drinker - started while living in Italy - all the italians (who i've asked in various places throughout the country) make it this way:
1/3 gin
1/3 campari
1/3 martini rossi

thats it.

[mjc]

There is a good article by Gary Regan about the Negroni and its kin in The SF Chronicle from yesterday.

This post has been edited by mjc: 02 April 2009 - 01:10 PM