The Bar Journal

I drunk my first Negroni way back in the early days of my cocktail journey, when I was at school and learning the first steps of this intrigues craft.

It’s such a marvelous combination of ingredients — the bracing bite of the Campari, the aromatic and spiritous backbone of the gin, the sweetness and spice of the MARTINI vermouth — that it lends itself to lots of tinkering. Some bartenders have made them with genever, several bitters and gins,  or even with rum, and I’ve become a huge fan of its Tequila/Negrita. As much as I enjoy those drinks, we keep going back to the original time after time. Before dinner, a Negroni just hits the spot, and is one of our primary preprandial quaffs.

If you share a similar love and fascination with the Negroni, Paul Clarke has a seminar for you. He’ll be moderating “The Negroni: An Iconic Cocktail” at Tales of the Cocktail next month, and this is one you’re not going to want to mix. I asked Paul why a whole seminar about this cocktail, and what tantalizing tidbits he could share with us with five weeks left to go.

“In thinking about this session, I’ve come to the conclusion that not only is the Negroni an excellent cocktail — it’s perhaps the PERFECT cocktail,” he said. “It balances potency, sweetness and bitterness with an elaborate flavor that can be consistently engaging and always open to interpretation and inspiring creativity.” Indeed — see the interpretations and inspirations above!

Paul will be joined by some distinguished panelists as well. “One of my panelists is Livio Lauro, a bartender originally from Florence who is now head of U.S. Bartenders Guild in Las Vegas, and who just completed a translation of Luca Picchi’s book about Count Negroni and the development of the Negroni cocktail; the history and background of the drink is his department. I will be talking about the cultural context of the Negroni and how it’s a ‘bridge-the-gap’ drink between not only the 19th century simplicity drinks and the turn-of-the-century vermouth/bitter drinks, but also between the European aperitif tradition and the American cocktail tradition.

Also on Thursday night at Sonesta Hotel, Master of ceremony Francesco Lafranconi will host and lead “La Nazionale Italiana” of bartending with a unique party : The Negroni with twist.

The most recognise italian mixologist of the 21st century such as Ago Perrone, Mauro Mahjoub, Luca Picchi, Marco Faraone, William Perbellini,  and Giuseppe Gallo will mix, shake and pouring 30 gallons of Negroni for a Guinness world record as well serving differents twist and trick with original italian products.

Campari & Martini & Rossi will welcome you all to sip the perfect cocktail on the earth!!!

SALUTE !