Campari Celebrates National Negroni Week With A NYC Negroni Bar Crawl

There’s always time for a negroni

This year marks the 11^th year that Campari and Imbibe Magazine host National Negroni Week.  For the negroni fans out there, you know that this drink is addictive.  Made entirely of alcohol, this spirit forward cocktail has intense notes of baking spices like clove and cinnamon from the Campari which is paired with a fresh botanical taste from the gin base.  The lasting notes of vermouth finishes the drink off with a bit of dark chocolate and adds a little touch of sweetness which keeps you coming back for more.  And to celebrate the occasion, Campari hosted a negroni bar crawl which featured a few of NYC’s best bars to try out signature negroni cocktails.

The night started off with classic negroni offerings at One Fifth.  At the bar, guests were able to order a classic negroni, a white negroni, or the popular spritz option of the negroni sbagliato served in a giant goblet.

Once guests had a chance to try out the classics, we moved on to the next bar, Dear Irving.  Here, we were served negroni inspired cocktails with a fresh twist.  Our favorite here was the Negroni on Holiday which takes a tropical spin on the classic negroni drink.  The drink was refreshing and light with hints of baking spices which paired perfectly with the bitterness of the orange peels from the Campari.

The night ended at Jungle Bird located in Chelsea.  The signature negroni cocktail here was called the Bittersweet.  This cocktail used mezcal instead of the classic gin base which added a nice smokiness to the drink alongside the mellow sweetness from the agave.  The secret to this mezcal is that it is infused with frozen strawberries and hibiscus flowers to add a sweet floral note to the drink which helps balance out some of the intense smokiness from the mezcal.  Jungle Bird doesn’t stop there and adds a bit of pepper tincture which adds a touch of heat to the drink and provide a perfect level of balance throughout the drink.

Check out some of the cocktail recipes below if you want to try and make some of these specialty negroni cocktails yourself.

Negroni on Holiday

• Ingredients
  • 5 oz Spiced Papaya Puree (papaya, cinnamon, vanilla, black pepper)
  • .5 oz Campari
  • .25 oz Lime
  • .5 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • 5 oz Cachaca
• Method:Served on crushed ice with lime zest and black pepper

Bittersweet

• Ingredients:
  • 1 oz Mezcal Union Uno infused with strawberries and hibiscus
  • 1 oz Dolin Rouge Vermouth
  • 1 oz Campari
  • 6 drops Black Pepper Tincture
• Method:Pour ingredients in a glass and stir. Garnish with a lime peel

Negroni #23

• Ingredients
  • 1oz Tarragon infused Sipsmith VJOP Gin
  • 1oz Strawberry infused Campari
  • 1oz R. Geoffroy Ratafia de Champagne
• Method
  • Infuse 5 stems of fresh tarragon with a 750ml bottle of Sipsmith VJOP for 24h at room temperature then strain.
  • Sous vide 750ml of Campari with a dozen fresh sliced strawberries for 1h and strain through cloth.
  • Combine both spirits equal parts in a bottle and store in the freezer.