Negroni.
Three ingredients in equal parts. No juice, no syrup, nothing to hide behind. The gin decides how the drink tastes — which is why the same recipe gives three different results with three of our gins.
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gin | 3 cl |
| Campari | 3 cl |
| Sweet vermouth | 3 cl |
Everything into the glass over one large ice cube. Stir for twenty seconds, until the glass frosts on the outside. Express the orange peel over the drink so the oil lands on the surface, then drop it in.
One to one to one is the version that came down to us. Many bars now use more gin, because today's gins are stronger than those of the 1920s. If you want less bitterness, raise the gin to 4 cl rather than cutting the Campari.
- DetailValue
- Glasstumbler
- Iceone large cube
- Garnishorange peel
- Methodstirred
- In the glassaround 24 % ABV
- Time2 minutes
An Americano with more backbone.
Before the Negroni there was the Americano: Campari and sweet vermouth in equal parts, topped with soda water. The name probably comes from the Italian amaro, bitter. The two ingredients stand for two cities — Campari from Milan, vermouth from Turin. The drink was first called Milano-Torino.
The story usually told goes like this: in Florence, a Count Camillo Negroni ordered his Americano without soda and with gin instead, around 1919. The bartender Fosco Scarselli swapped the lemon slice for orange to tell them apart.
None of it is documented. There is a second trail leading to a French general of the same surname, decades earlier. Contemporary sources are missing in both cases. What is certain: the drink appears in Italy in the 1920s.
Gentleman's Gin, which we distil at the Aktienmühle, follows a London Dry recipe from the same period.
Same recipe, three results.
Gentleman's Gin
London Dry after a 1920s recipe. Juniper leads, and the structure holds up against the bitterness of the Campari. The classic reading of the drink.
CHF 54 — to the bottle
Gin de Bâle
Classically built as well, with regional botanicals. Less edge than the Gentleman's, which makes for a rounder drink with less bitter contrast.
CHF 40 — to the bottle
Flaneur Gin
Citrus-forward, with pomelo, orange and grapefruit. Makes a brighter drink where peel aromas sit in front of the bitterness.
CHF 40 — to the bottleFive things that make the difference.
One large cube instead of many small ones
Small cubes have more surface and melt faster. The drink is watered down before it is finished.
Stirred, not shaken
You shake what contains juice, cream or egg. Three spirits get stirred — shaking pulls in air bubbles and clouds the drink. Stirring adds meltwater on purpose, roughly a fifth of the volume.
Vermouth belongs in the fridge
Vermouth is fortified wine. An open bottle oxidises and tastes flat after a few weeks. Kept cold it lasts one to two months.
Peel, not slice
The essential oils sit in the skin. Expressed over the glass they settle on the surface. A slice dropped in mostly releases juice and dilutes.
Where the bitterness comes from
Campari is a bitter spirit at around 25 % ABV. The bitter compounds cut the sweetness of the vermouth — that is where the balance of the drink comes from.
Two turns off the road.
Negroni Sbagliato
Gin out, sparkling wine in. Created in 1972 at Bar Basso in Milan, when the bartender reached for the wrong bottle — sbagliato means mistaken. Lighter and lower in alcohol.
Boulevardier
Gin out, whiskey in. First described in a Paris bar book in 1927. Heavier and sweeter than the Negroni.
The Negroni from the bottle.
Our Negroni came out of a collaboration with the Basel restaurant Le Rhin Bleu: Campari, sweet vermouth and Gentleman's Gin, mixed to the original recipe.
Ice into the glass, a slice of orange, done. For bars and venues the same Negroni is available in kegs and bag-in-box.
- Volume0.5 litres
- Alcohol27 % ABV
- Makesaround 5 drinks
- PriceCHF 39.90
Why a gin works in a Negroni, or doesn't.
In the workshop you blend your own gin from more than twenty single distillates. Afterwards you know why juniper holds up against Campari and citrus peel does not.
- Three hours, every Thursday from 17:30
- CHF 180 per person
- 0.5 l of your own gin, the recipe is yours
- Aktienmühle distillery, Gärtnerstrasse 46, Basel
More on the distillery at the Aktienmühle, on the Gimlet, on other serves or on all our gins.