Go Back
Two Garibaldi cocktails next to a bottle of Campari.

Garibaldi Cocktail

Print Recipe
The Garibaldi is an easy to make and fairly low alcohol cocktail that's a mixture of just Campari and Orange Juice. That's it! Nothing else. If you're a fan of a cocktail like the Americano, you'll likely like the Garibaldi as well. Boiled down to basics, the Garibaldi is a nice mixture of bitterness from the Campari, as well as sweetness and sourness from the Orange Juice; this, of course, is a pretty standard formula for cocktail recipes. It works across a wide range of recipes and of course it works here.
We'll mention it in the actual directions for making the cocktail, but we'll say it here as well: the Orange Juice used in this recipe needs to be aerated (sometimes called fluffy). This will help it go up against the rather heavy bitterness of the Campari so it doesn't take up too much space in the flavour. To aerate the Orange Juice you can whisk it or put it in a blender (without ice); this should froth things up a bit!
Total Time 4 minutes
Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

  • 45 mL Campari
  • 120 mL Orange Juice properly aerated
  • Garnish with a slice of orange or wedge

Instructions

  • Aerate Orange Juice by a means of your choice. We suggest either going at it with a whisk, putting it in a blender without ice, or even giving it a good shake in a cocktail shaker (and we mean a good and thorough shake!).
  • Add ice to a Highball glass.
  • Pour Campari and aerated Orange Juice into to your glass.
  • Stir everything to mix it and make it sufficiently cold.
  • Garnish and serve.

Notes

While the story behind old cocktail recipes like this are usually forgotten (and this is no exception), we do know that this cocktail was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi. Garibaldi (the person, not the cocktail), was instrumental in liberating and unifying Italy, among many other military accomplishments in his time. We're not here to write a full biography on Giuseppe Garibaldi, but he also had a style of beard named after him, which we find quite interesting!
While we don't know exactly when this cocktail was invented, Garibaldi (once again the person) passed away in 1882, so it's likely that the Garibaldi (the cocktail this time) was invented towards the end of his life or shortly after his death. Then again, a mixture of Orange Juice and Campari may have been consumed prior to the name, which is also quite common. So we don't really know much!