# The SBHonline Community Daily > Restaurants Wine & Food Off The Island >  >  Happy Negroni Week

## JEK

*The Only Negroni Recipe You Need**Need a proper cocktail at a not-so-proper baror a go-to for happy hour at home? Remember this classic 3-ingredient recipe and drink well wherever you are*
ENLARGE
Negroni _PHOTO: F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY ANNE CARDENAS_



By KEVIN SINTUMUANG

June 2, 2016 12:08 p.m. ET10 COMMENTS

ANYONE WHO LOVES a well-made cocktail knows better than to order anything more complicated than a vodka and soda in an open-bar situation. But as wedding season kicks into high gear, theres a classic Ill ask for if I spy the right bottles among the Jack Daniels and Amstel Lights: a Negroni.
A what? is the response I often get to my half-apologetic, sorry-to-be-that-guy request. Then I provide the recipe: just equal parts Campari, gin and vermouth, on the rocks.
*RECIPE: NEGRONI*_Just add these three ingredients to a rocks glass filled with ice, gently stir and garnish with an orange wedge if youve got one._

1 ounce Campari1 ounce sweet vermouth1 ounce gin


Thats it? Yep. Boozy, bitter, bold and built right in the glass, the Negroni has become a steadfast sidekick for me when I need a proper cocktail at a not-so-proper bar, from dive to airport. And when Im mixing at home, theres no other drink that produces so much satisfaction with so little effort. 
Though bitter drinks have become a thing over the past decade, this one retains the aura of a secret handshake. The Negroni is a drink you mature into. Italians sip it before dinner, but Ill enlist its enlivening properties any time between 4 p.m. and 4 a.m. Variations on the basic recipe abound, especially during Negroni Week (June 6-12), when bars around the world donate part of their revenues from the drink to charity. But I prefer to stick to the simplest. 
Just to make sure, I headed to Manhattans Dante, which offers a Negroni happy hour and a dozen versions. Some, like the Boulevardier (a bourbon Negroni), are classics in their own right. Others, like the icy Negroni Frappé, exhibit more creative license. I even went so far as to try the Unlikely Negroni, which lists tequila, banana and chili among its ingredients. Those Negronis were all delicious, but the only one I wanted two of was the original. 


I asked Naren Young, Dantes co-owner, if he had esoteric gins or vermouths he preferred. Its all about the workhorses, he assured meCampari; Cinzano or Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth; and a London Dry like Beefeater or Fords Gin, or, for a slightly gentler Negroni, the lower-alcohol Plymouth.
I told him what I think about stirring a Negroni in a mixing glass and then straining it into a cocktail glass: too much work. And then there are those who stir the drink and strain it into a rocks glassa nice touch, fine for a bar, but Ive never found it necessary at home. Mr. Young agreed. Blessedly unfussy, Dantes Negroni is served from a tap and casually garnished with an orange wedge instead of a twist because, he admitted, I dont want to cut over a hundred orange peels a day. Thats the spirit.

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## marybeth

Nice pic, but I prefer the twist instead of the slice. Its not that much work (for Randy!) :Wink:

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## andynap

Good recipe. Simple is better.

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## JEK

I prefer these two ingredients:

pack.png

Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 10.57.40 AM.jpg

And I found this new (to me) gin in San Francisco.

Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 9.38.08 AM.jpg

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## andynap

You just negated your first post.

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## JEK

Just an article I found.

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## marybeth

+1 on Antica and Aperol 

I had one at our local Italian place, Il Pizzaiolo, made with Cynar. Also good, but different.

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## Dennis

A fav.

I've taught "thousands" of bartenders the simple credo: "three ingredients, equal parts".

I'll have one now, thanks!

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## JEK

Had one earlier. My style. 

Easy to remember, even drunk. 
D. C.

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## Dennis

> Had one earlier. My style. 
> 
> Easy to remember, even drunk. 
> D. C.



I've had the pleasure of you serving me a  couple "your style".

Good times!

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## JEK

I'd call it a pretty good old man's drink. Even for young people  :Big Grin:

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## andynap

image.jpegimage.jpeg

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## jeffbg

Using gran classico is even better than Aperol.

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## JEK

> Using gran classico is even better than Aperol.



A nice drop as well!

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## Dennis

> Using gran classico is even better than Aperol.




 :thumb up:

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## JEK

Does all of this further negate my first post?

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## KevinS

> Does all of this further negate my first post?



Maybe, but you were already on thin ice with around here just with the first post.  At the nearest Not-So-Proper bar I would never drink anything with Vermouth in it.  The last time that I got a close look at the Vermouth bottle it had Fruit Flies floating in it.  I've never checked the Campari bottle, but at least the Tanqueray bottle looked good.

Perhaps Not-So-Proper Bar and Dive Bar aren't always the same thing, LOL.

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## cassidain

to me aperol does not make a negroni, but the gran classico sounds interesting.

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