No cocktail is quite like the Negroni. It’s a very simple cocktail recipe: just mix equal parts Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Campari. Then you’ve got yourself one tasty cocktail.
The Negroni is a go to cocktail for a lot of people because it’s quite simple to make and it tastes great. Sure, you should make it in a mixing glass, but if you don’t have one, there’s nothing to stop you from just making one of these cocktails in the glass you’re drinking it out of. Basically, it’s the ultimate three ingredient cocktail!
But where did the Negroni come from? It didn’t just appear one day. The Negroni was (likely) created in the early 1900’s and, as with so many cocktail recipes, no one really recorded properly. It’s a cocktail, so it was likely invented in a bar while people were drinking. Sure, cocktail recipes eventually get published into books, but often not until much after they become popular. Cocktail blogs didn’t exist back then, so it’s not like there was as much of a record for people who enjoyed them.
So let’s explore some Negroni history and try to pin point its origins.
Negroni Origins
We’re not going to go into the cocktails first creation just yet. That’s because what’s important about the the likely origin story is that it involves an Americano.
An Americano is a simple cocktail recipe made of equal parts Campari and Sweet Vermouth, topped up with Soda Water.
The Americano was invented in Caffe Campari in Milan and has been around since the 1860’s. It’s slightly less well known today, but it was a popular drink in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It also evidently stayed popular enough into the 1950’s, as it’s actually featured in Casino Royale; it’s actually the first drink that Bond orders. Take like Martini!
You can probably already see the similarities between the Americano and the Negroni. Just replace the Soda Water with Gin and you’ve made one!
So, at some point, someone added Gin to an Americano. But who was that someone?
The First Negroni,
The popular story for the first Negroni is that in 1919, Count Camillo Negroni asked for Gin in his Americano because he wanted a drink that was a bit stronger. The Americano is a wonderful cocktail, but it’s actually pretty low in alcohol.
We know that Count Camillo Negroni existed, but we don’t know why he wanted a stronger cocktail. Perhaps he was having a rough day.
What we do know from the story is that the cocktail was ordered a Caffe Casoni in Florence. We also know that Count Negroni and his family started a distillery that was aptly named the Negroni Distillery and that they produced pre-packaged Negroni cocktails.
So it’s highly likely that this Negroni origin story is true. If it’s not true, all that means is that Count Negroni wasn’t the first to ask for an Americano with Gin; perhaps he heard about this concoction somewhere else and wanted to try one for himself. From there, it’s obvious he liked the cocktail so much he made a distillery to mass produce it, and the name stuck!
But we’re not saying the story is untrue. The above story is the one most widely published, so let’s go with that one.
What is also known (and by known, we mean probably) is that the Negroni and Boulevardier at least have separate origins. Although they’re very similar, they look to have been created independently of each other, with the Boulevardier created in France and the Negroni created in Italy. Both at around the same time.
The Negroni Increases In Popularity
It wasn’t until 1947 that the Negroni rose in popularity thanks to Orson Welles, who tried one of these cocktails when he was in Rome.
Evidently, word got back to the U.S.A. and the popularity grew from there.
Since the late 1940’s, the Negroni has grown even further in popularity with more than a few variations and riffs on the standard.
To us, the standard original recipe of equal parts Gin, Campari, and Sweet Vermouth is pretty close to perfect though! It’s almost akin to trying to change perfection. Sure, you can’t get the same drastic changes in flavour like you can by swapping up the Whiskey in the aforementioned Boulevardier, but that’s also part of the charm of a Negroni; it’s a cocktail that works regardless of the ingredients you use.
And That’s The Negroni
We think the origin story behind the Negroni is most likely true. As mentioned, if it’s not 100% true, the only variation to the likely story is that Count Negroni didn’t think of it himself.
Anyway, all of this is just one more reason to like this wonderful cocktail. Cheers!
