count camillo's derby

1 1/4 oz Beefeater Gin
1 1/4 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth
1 1/4 oz Campari
8 leaf Mint

Muddle mint in Campari. Add rest of the ingredients and ice, and stir to mix and chill. Garnish with mint and add a straw.

Two weeks ago during Negroni Week, I wanted to tap into our rapidly growing mint jungle and put it towards some cocktail usage. With Negronis on my mind, I could not help but remember how well mint pairs with Campari in drinks like Matt Schrage's From the Hip or Stephen Shellenberger's Boa Vista. Perhaps something as simple as mintified Negroni in Julep form? For a name, I considered how the wild Camillo Negroni spent time as a cowboy as well as the mint and gin (not the better known whiskey one) Derby cocktail and dubbed it Count Camillo's Derby.
The bouquet of mint garnish contributed greatly to the drink's nose. A green herbal and grape sip led into a Campari, juniper, and mint swallow. My tasting notes comment "more than [just] a Negroni" for the mint shaped the drink away from the sharper notes of Campari into something a bit more fresh and herbal.