Negroni Snob

I ventured out to dinner this past Saturday during the great ‘Snowtober’ storm. It was windy, cold and snowy, but as a result the city was blissfully calm! I got to the restaurant 30 minutes before my friend (I gave myself way more time than necessary to get to Chelsea. Oops), so decided to sit at the bar and order a negroni.

Negroni has been my favorite cocktail for the last few years – it’s traditionally an aperitif but I drink it before, after and even (gasp) sometimes with my food. It’s the perfect drink for me – gin is my alcohol of choice, and I love the bitter taste mixed with the tang of Campari. There’s nothing quite like a really well-made negroni – and luckily living in NYC and having access to the best ‘mixologists’ makes getting a fantastic negroni not too difficult (Brandy Library, Ward III and Weather Up being notably excellent). I’ve come to expect a really great cocktail now – especially at $15 across the board anywhere in Manhattan, you start to expect the quality to be comparable as well. Unfortunately not.

It sure did look pretty!

Here is what I do expect in my negroni (I won’t elaborate on my weekend’s version except to say that it missed the mark significantly):
– It should be shaken over ice until it’s very cold, then poured into a tumbler that has also been chilled
– I prefer an old-fashioned or collins tumbler, but have seen them served in champagne coupes as well
– The essence of an orange peel should be squeezed onto the top of the drink and then rubbed around the rim (there must be a name for this)
– Orange peel garnish

I feel snobby listing my cocktail requirements in such detail, but getting the ratios of gin-vermouth-campari should not be difficult, it’s the things above that turn a $10 negroni into a $15 negroni.