Food

If you love a Negroni, try these easy cocktail recipes

Play with its simple formula, and you can make a number of delicious, bittersweet cocktails.

By Rebekah Peppler, New York Times Service

February 14, 2024

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email
• 2

The Negroni, a strong Italian-born classic with a huge and committed fan club, fits every season and most occasions.

“It’s bitter, it’s sweet, it feels like it has a bit of salinity to it,” said Isabel Tulloch, the head bartender at Milady’s in New York City. “There’s that beautiful orange expression that makes it a little bit juicy.”

But start playing with the classic Negroni recipe — gin, red bitter aperitif (often Campari) and sweet vermouth — and a host of adjacent alternatives appear.

Drop the gin entirely, and you’re now holding a Milano-Torino. Dating to the 1860s, the Milano-Torino, or “Mi-To,” is named for where its key ingredients originated: one part Campari (from Milan) and one part sweet vermouth (from Turin). Served on the rocks with a slice of orange, it’s lower in alcohol than the Negroni, though the Milano-Torino still benefits from some dilution.

Tulloch prefers to pour her drink and then find something to do for 10 minutes or so, while the ice melts. “I’ll take out the dog quickly or go wash my face,” she said, “and then I can get back to my beverage.”

Add soda water to the Milano-Torino, and it becomes an Americano. Both the Milano-Torino and the Americano are ancestors to the Negroni, which, according to Florentine lore, was invented in 1919 when Count Camillo Negroni asked the bartender at Caffè Casoni to substitute gin for his Americano’s soda water.

But had he instead swapped the Americano’s vermouth for still white wine, Count Negroni might have been credited with the Bicicletta, an easy cocktail of wine, red bitter liqueur and soda water. Though a dry selection like pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc is the classic addition here, Tulloch suggests swapping in a skin contact, or orange, wine for a bit more tannic complexity.

“So many bartenders have made riffs on the Negroni and, at home, people accidentally make them all the time,” Tulloch said, adding that her favorite twist involves Aquavit. “It makes it a little more savory, and the dill brightens it up.”

One can swap out the gin in a Negroni for prosecco (or another sparkling wine) for a Sbagliato. Or keep the gin but exchange the sweet vermouth for dry to make a Cardinale. Use rye instead of gin in the Cardinale, and you’ve made an Old Pal. Deploy bourbon instead of rye, and it’s a Boulevardier. While Campari is the king of red bitters, Tulloch also recommends trying other brands like Faccia Brutto, the Bruto Americano from St. George Spirits or the Crimson Amaro from Catskill Provisions.

And if you’re craving a Negroni-style drink but not drinking alcohol, you also have options. The prebottled Phony Negroni from St. Agrestis is one of Tulloch’s favorite nonalcoholic alternatives. Bitter-leaning, nonalcoholic sodas such as Sanbittèr, Stappi Red Bitter and Casamara Club Alta can also scratch that aperitivo itch.

The next time you reach for the default Negroni, change it up for one of an array of Negroni-adjacent drinks — without straying too far from the classic’s crimson enchantment.

RECIPES

Milano-Torino

By Rebekah Peppler

Before the Negroni, there was the Americano, and before the Americano there was the Milano-Torino. This bittersweet combination of Campari (from Milan) and sweet vermouth (from Turin) is served on the rocks with an orange slice. While you can use any red bitter or sweet red vermouth you like, if you’re looking to hew closest to the classic, reach for some Campari, and a sweet vermouth from Turin, such as Carpano Antica Formula, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino or Del Professore Rosso Vermouth.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients:

• Ice
• 1 1/2 ounces Campari (or other bitter liqueur, such as Cappelletti or Contratto Bitter)
• 1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth, preferably a vermouth from Torino
• 1 orange slice
• Preparation:

Fill a lowball glass with ice. Add the Campari and vermouth. Stir, then garnish with the orange slice.

Bicicletta

By Rebekah Peppler

The popular lore goes that the Bicicletta, a classic Italian aperitivo, was named after the wobbling mode of transportation used by elderly men after a spirited afternoon or evening. However the drink came to be named, the three-part combination of red bitter liqueur, dry white wine and soda water is bright, refreshing and as easy to make as riding a bike.

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients:

• Ice
• 2 ounces red bitter liqueur, such as Campari, Cappelletti or Contratto Bitter
• 2 ounces dry white wine
• Chilled soda water, to top
• 1 to 2 orange or lemon wheels

Preparation:

Fill a Collins or highball glass with ice. Add the Campari and wine. Top with soda water. Stir gently to combine, then garnish with the citrus wheel.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.