How to make the perfect Negroni

The Negroni is another one of the simplest, yet delicious gin cocktail classics. It’s a drink that you would want to have at any time of the year. It works great as an appetizer

We understand how great it would be to learn how to make your own perfect Negroni at home even with the simplest ingredients and equipment. But, before we start making the perfect classic Negroni, let’s talk about its history first.

How did we start making the Negroni? Where did it come from?

Two Possible Origins of the Negroni Cocktail

1919: The Discovery of the Negroni by Count Negroni

The Negroni was believed to have been “discovered” in Florence, Italy in a café called Cafè Casoni. While there are no official historical accounts about this, we’ll tell you the most popular story we know.

One day, a man named Count Camillo Negroni wanted a stronger version of his favourite drink, the Americano (the cocktail, not the coffee). He then asked the bartender to use Gin instead of the usual soda that you use in an Americano.

If you think about it, the Negroni is really just an Americano with a twist. 

Anyway, Negroni loved the result of the drink he ordered. We would assume that he then, continued to drink it that way for the next weeks to come. In the same year, Count Camillo’s family founded the Negroni Distillery wherein they produced a ready-to-drink version of his beloved drink. It was called Antico Negroni 1919.

1870: Rewind to half a century back, Pascal Negroni

But wait! Recently, it has been discovered that it’s possible the Negroni was invented many, many years before its alleged discovery in Italy. 

Because of modern innovations in family descendant tracking, people have found that maybe the Negroni first started in the African country, Senegal. 

If you’re wondering how the ingredients of the Negroni got to Africa during this time, you’re not alone. But it’s most likely because it was discovered by a French general named Pascal Negroni. Someone like him is assumed to have been wealthy and has access to these things. 

This is just another theory, of course, and has not yet been proved like the story of Count Negroni.

Making the Perfect Negroni

Step 1: Remember these three things

To make the perfect Negroni, you ideally have to have the perfect ingredients for it. There are three flavours that you have to incorporate into your drink when making this cocktail. These are sweet, bitter, and boozy. This is to enable you to balance its flavour!

The sweet being the Vermouth, the bitter being the Campari, and the boozy being the Bright Night Wild Tasmanian Gin. (We can’t have this delightful drink without the Gin, of course.)

Step 2: Prepare your orange peel

Before you start mixing your cocktail together, it is ideal that you prepare your orange peel for garnish first.

This is recommended because once you pour your drinks over the ice, it dilutes fast. You definitely don’t want your drink tasting like a watered-down cocktail.

Hold your orange at the top and start peeling away. No, there are no rules as to how long the orange peel should be. The length of the orange peel can be simply aligned with your preference!

If your orange peel is too thick, slice the inside of it and remove some of the fibres as this can make the peel bitter.

However you can also put an orange wedge if you want a subtle orange flavour to your Negroni. 

Step 3: Get a mixing glass 

Note: The “mixing glass” doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be just a regular glass that can fit a lot of ice and equal parts of your gin, vermouth, and Campari.

To start making your drink, pour equal parts of your ingredients into your mixing glass. You may pour as many or as little as you want, just as long as your 3 ingredients are equal in measurement. We recommend doing 30mL each.

After pouring your drinks in, add as much ice as you can to your mixing glass and start pushing your ice around to dilute your drink. 

Once your glass is getting cold, taste your Negroni. If the flavour is still too strong, you may dilute it in ice by pushing your ice around more. 

Step 4: Pour your drink into a chilled glass

Grab a chilled glass and a lot of ice (or one big, round ice) to slow down the dilution of your Negroni by keeping your ice cold. 

Strain the slightly melted ice from your mixing glass and pour your mixed drink into your new, chilled glass. 

Get the orange peel that you prepared earlier, hover it above your Negroni, then twist it from above. This way, the orange oils will get into your cocktail.

Once done twisting, you may now put the orange peel in the drink. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your perfect negroni.

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