Today's cocktail of the week is an unusual one. Accounts of its 'discovery' in the early 1900's seem to be split between either the Frenchman Pascal Olivier, Count de Negroni and the Italian Count Cammillo Negroni who supposedly asked for an Americano cocktail with gin rather than soda. I find it more likely that an Italian asked for a drink kicked up a notch than a Frenchman crafting a cocktail with Italian Campari, but stranger things have happened.

iacopomasi.net

Follow up:

Considering how difficult it is to even obtain a cocktail on ice in either France or Italy today, let alone at the turn of the 20th century, my explanation is this: The Mad Hatter, a bartender at a small dive bar near Rabbithole, New Jersey was having a philosophical discussion with his friend, Gliridae, who happened to also be a dormouse. Gliridae was enjoying a gin martini, while The Hatter was pouring himself a Campari on the rocks. The dormouse, already three sheets to the wind began an enlightened discourse on the dualistic nature of mice and men, when he accidentally knocked over his martini, the contents spilling right into the Hatter's Campari. Not one to waste either good alcohol or a moment of unexpected bartending fate, the Hatter sampled the resulting concoction, and promptly spit it out.

"Too bitter!", he sputtered.

Gliridae nodded sagely and pointed to a bottle of sweet red vermouth behind the bar.

You see, a perfect cocktail has very few essential components. One of these is of course, balance between bitter and sweet. You could envision this as something of a golden rule, or perhaps a Golden Mean. Equal portions of sweet vermouth and Campari balance each other with beauty while the gin adds a kick that such bittersweet needs to be taken seriously. The result is cocktail perfection:

The Negroni Cocktail

• 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
• 3/4 oz gin
• 3/4 oz Campari

Add all three in equal proportion to a rocks glass with ice and stir. Garnish with an orange peel/twist/slice. Enjoy!

As a variant, combine all in a shaker with ice, shake and strain into a martini glass with an orange twist.

Alice, who is in fact a certified bartender, tells me that the mnemonic for remembering the ingredients is 34 Sweet College Girls (3/4 oz Sweet vermouth, Campari, Gin). How could anyone forget that?