Negroni Barrel Aged Cocktail
Aged Cocktail Recipe – Negroni
The ruby red drink was invented Florence, Italy in 1919. As the legend goes, Count Camillo Negroni asked his bartender friend to strengthen his favorite aged cocktail by replacing soda water with gin and using an orange garnish instead of lemon. The rest is history as they say and the Negroni was born. Although the aged cocktail is quite easy to make with only 3 main ingredients the flavors are quite complex with notes of juniper and a fruity nose. Once you have tried it it may be your new favorite drink. The Campari will add some bitterness with notes of sweet cherry, orange and cinnamon. Sweet Vermouth is a fortified wine with brandy, infused herbs and sweetened. Mixing all that together makes a cocktail with great flavor but aging it in a barrel will give you a taste like no other. The barrel works to mesh the flavors together in a way a glass just can’t do. For our Negroni barrel aged cocktail we took it to a new level. We first cured the barrel with Sherry. Sherry is quite inexpensive and added some great flavor to the cocktail. Use your imagination and you can pre-cure your barrel with something like that or even different to give your Negroni a new perspective. I think it may be good in a bourbon cured barrel too. If you want a precured barrel we have those available on our site too. (The recipe below does not include our additional pre-curing step since it is optional).
Serving Size
Will make about 12-14 drinks per recipe. The longer you age it in the barrel the less you will have remaining since some loss due to Angel’s Share is imminent.
Ingredients
- 10 ounces Gin
- 10 ounces Sweet Vermouth
- 10 ounces Campari
- Orange peel for garnish
Directions
Pour all ingredients in to 1 liter barrel (except the orange peel). Give it a little shake to mix ingredients. Now the hard part is waiting. We aged ours in the 1 liter barrel for about 2 weeks. You could age it anywhere from a week to over a month based on your taste preference. If you use larger barrels it may take a bit longer to get the same flavor and color influence. The smaller the barrel the faster it ages. We suggest you take a small sample each week. When it gets to the flavor you like then remove it from the barrel and pour it in a bottle to save the flavor, then start your next batch. You could also age this same recipe in a 2 liter barrel (it doesn’t have to be full) and get some great flavor in it a little quicker. Once you are ready to drink, it is served in an old fashioned glass, on the rocks and stirred, garnished with the orange peel. CHEERS!