Negroni

The lore around the origins of the negroni cocktail is complicated and messy. We know that the cocktail is a spruced up Americano cocktail - in which gin is substituted for the soda water. Multiple sources claim the cocktail was created in Florence around 1919 for Count Camillo Negroni, one of many members of the Negroni family. Interestingly enough, other members of the still-existing Negroni lineage dispute that and say that it was invented by General Pascal Olivier Comte de Negroni during the Franco-Prussian war.

The first written document of a Negroni-like recipe may have occurred anywhere between the 1920s-50s. A class of Campari-based drinks existed since the 1800s, and one called the Campari Mixte called for equal parts Campari, gin, and vermouth - identical to the modern-day Negroni.

Regardless of when it was created, the Negroni has found its way into the classics, being a staple drink of any bar and the foundation of so many variations that it has become a class of its own. Its popularity soared in the mid-2010s when Caffe Dante in NYC (which opened in 1915), launched an extensive Negroni program with the classic cocktail and dozens of creative reinterpretations. Caffe Dante was named the World's Best Bar in 2019, cementing the Negroni as a high-profile American bar staple.