100 Negronis : Readers Share

Readers Share

This excellent was sent in by one of readers, Kyle Godbey, who says

"Just found your site and I'm diggin' it. Keep at it. Thought I'd share, though it is complex and a stretched variation..."

Kyle named his Negroni inspired cocktail, made with the Scandinavian spirit Aquavit, after Rorik of Dorestad a ferocious Viking raider and leader.

Kyle uses two gin like spirits, a great sherry, a red vermouth, two amari, and a bitters.

The history of the Negroni is uncertain, but we have researched it well. Not just where it began, but how this exemplary cocktai has emerged over almost 100 years to become the wildly popular drink that is today...

As to its origin, the most prevalent story is that it was first created in Florence, Italy in 1919, at Caffè Casoni, an antique shop/bar, (think Il Buco) where now Caffè Giacosa is found. As the story goes Count Camillo Negroni asked bartender Fosco Scarselli to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin instead of the typical soda water. Fosco distinguished the drink with an orange garnish rather than the typical lemon. A Brief History of the Negroni

Of course like most tales in Italy there is another version of the story. In his one it is told that the drink was invented in 1857 in the West African country of Senegal by Corsican General Pascal Olivier de Negroni. They say he created a drink to aide his new wife’s digestion lifting the drink to toast to her health on their wedding day. Negroni family lays claim to namesake cocktail

Sorry Pascal, with no disrespect, we are going with the Italian Count Camillo version.