chocolate negroni

1 1/2 oz Gin (Bluecoat)
1 oz Campari
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz White Crème de Cacao (Marie Brizard)

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with an orange twist.

Three Sundays ago, I reached for the Stir Your Soul recipe book from Tales of the Cocktail 2010, and I found a great recipe to kick off the official start of Negroni Week -- namely, the Chocolate Negroni. The recipe was crafted at the Bayswater Brasserie in Sydney, Australia, and was featured in "The World's Biggest Bar Crawl" event at Tales in 2009. Since subbing Punt e Mes for sweet vermouth is my usual call when I request Negronis, this drink seemed right up my alley. In addition, the crème de cacao in the Punt e Mes Negroni made me wonder if it would work as well as in the Punt e Mes Manhattan, the Coney Island.
The orange twist over the Chocolate Negroni contributed greatly to the drink's bouquet. The Punt e Mes' grape led off the sip, and the swallow was a familiar trio of gin, Campari, and Punt e Mes bitter notes. True to its name, the chocolate reared itself on the finish and pleasantly built up over successive swallows.