Wednesday, April 24, 2013

negroni tredici

2 oz Gin (Tanqueray)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
1/4 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Campari
13 drop Regan's Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into an ice-filled glass (cocktail coupe sans ice). Garnish with both lemon and orange twists.

After the Brown Derby, I reached for Jeff Masson and Greg Boehm's Big Bartender's Book and found the Negroni Tredici. This Negroni variation was created by Toby Maloney at Chicago's Violet Hour in 2009; the 'tredici' part translates from Italian to 13, and this apparently reflects the 13 botanicals present in Cynar. Also, my instinct to reach for Tanqueray for Toby's drink given past recipes of his like the Thick As Thieves was correct, for I later found the recipe listed as such elsewhere.
toby maloney violet hour negroni tredici 13
The citrus oil from the two twists greeted the nose along with the sweet vermouth's aroma. Next, the vermouth's grape filled the sip, and the swallow began with gin flavors that flowed in the Cynar, Campari, and orange notes. The Campari was less intense here which I attribute to the small portion used in the recipe as well as the pairing with Cynar which converted the otherwise bitter swallow into something a bit more earthy.

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