When we last went in search of the ultimate Negroni, way back in 2017, the drink occupied a very different place in the cocktail pantheon. Far from the aperitivo juggernaut it is today, the drink was fighting for a place on menus; Negroni Week was only four years into its ascendency and the notion that the drink could be anything other than equal parts was still novel.
Now, helped along by the drink world’s undying enthusiasm for Italy, the Negroni is among the most ubiquitous classic cocktails, a favorite canvas for bartenders to experiment with—turning it tropical, aging it and swapping out the base spirit. If it’s trending in drinks, there’s a Negroni to prove it. With the cocktail in constant flux, we wondered whether the archetypal Negroni of 2024 would be different than the one we crowned back in 2017. It is against this backdrop that we recently convened at Attaboy with general manager Haley Traub, Coqodaq bar manager Matt Chavez and spirits expert Joaquín Simó to go in search of the Negroni that best reflects the tastes of today.
Almost immediately it became clear that the Negroni has splintered into two factions: the Negroni as aperitivo—a true pre-dinner drink, something to stimulate the palate without feeling too boozy, because, as Simó observed, “I have a bottle of wine coming”—and the cocktail bar Negroni, a drink removed from the context of dining, which can afford to be more spirit-forward.
In both cases, what the judges were looking for aligned. “I want the gin and bitter to shine,” explained Traub, “and the vermouth to bring a hint of sweetness, but mostly texture and body.” But that doesn’t mean the sweet vermouth should be an afterthought. As Chavez explained, “I like a vermouth with character, too.”
The unanimous winner satisfied both roles of the modern Negroni. Anthony Schmidt’s Negroni from J & Tony’s Discount Cured Meats and Negroni Warehouse in San Diego is gin-forward on paper, with an ounce of the botanical spirit paired with three quarters of an ounce each of Cocchi Vermouth di Torino and Campari. But the gin of choice, Sipsmith London Dry, was deliberately selected in part for its ABV—which at 41.6 percent is slightly above the standard 40 percent—but without the boozy bite of something higher. A spritz of lemon oil over the surface of the drink offered the desired aromatics while half an orange wheel inserted in the glass nodded to the way the drink is commonly served in Italy. The result was an exceptionally balanced cocktail, each element detectable in appropriate measure. It’s a Negroni that can do it all.
Second place went to Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Portland’s Pacific Standard, whose equal-parts construction was identified as such immediately by the judges, who found it to best satisfy the qualifications for the pre-dinner Negroni role. Compared to the gin-forward builds that made up the majority of entries, this one—Beefeater, Campari, Cinzano Rosso—felt rounder and richer, without veering towards syrupy. As Chavez described it, it was “the poster child for the classic Negroni.”
Taking third place was the house Negroni of Dante in New York City, which previously took the top spot at our last blind tasting in 2017. Today, the drink—made with an ounce of Bombay Sapphire, and three quarters of an ounce each of Campari and Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth—holds up. The higher proof of the gin (47 percent ABV) paired with a spirit-forward build yields a slightly more austere interpretation of the drink that one taster described as “a red sauce-joint Martini—but done well.” Another described it as “a gin-lover’s Negroni.” It seemed to prove that the modern Negroni need not do it all. Sometimes it’s enough to know what you’re doing and do it well.
