There’s a reason why the late Chef Anthony Bourdain referred to negronis as “the perfect drink.”
It’s a “a grown-up drink,” Chef Bourdain explained, and while that first sip might be a bit bitter and off-putting, “it grows on you.”
In honor of Anthony Bourdain Day which is coming up on June 25th, we want to give you our take on classic cocktail, the chocolate negroni.
What’s a negroni?
According to tradition, the negroni cocktail was invented in 1919 in Florence, Italy when Count Camilo Negroni asked a friend to stir things up for him. At Count Negroni’s request, his bartender friend replaced the soda water in a standard Americano cocktail with gin, and thus was born a new classic!
While there are countless variations on the basic formula of a negroni, the standard recipe is simple: equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and a bitter liqueur called Campari. That’s it. Served over ice with a slice of lemon (or, better yet, orange), it is a favorite apéritif all over the world.
What’s so special about the negroni?
The appeal of the negroni can be summed up in two words: “big” and “complex.”
The bitterness of the Campari—the sweetness of the vermouth—the juniper and other botanicals of the gin—these are not subtle flavors. They are big and strong, and none of these ingredients would be especially pleasant on their own. Yet somehow, blended together, they form a mixture that’s intriguing and complex. They arouse your tastebuds and awaken your attention, which makes the negroni a fantastic apéritif.
The quest for a better negroni.
The negroni is a personal favorite drink for both of our owners, Ryan and Kaleb Crafts. Over the years, Ryan developed a tradition of serving negronis at his house every Christmas, and he was always experimenting with ways to improve the cocktail. He tried different types of gin and vermouth, even replacing the sweet (red) vermouth with substitutes like Lillet blanc and cocchi Americano. But no matter what variation of negroni he tried, he usually found himself sipping it with the glass in one hand and a bite of chocolate in the other. The flavors of chocolate and negroni go together so well that Ryan finally asked himself, “Why not just incorporate chocolate into the negroni itself?”
Why not indeed!
But his early attempts weren’t all that successful. Various recipes use chocolate bitters, crème de cacao, or other chocolate liqueurs, but Ryan found that these were too sweet, overpoweringly chocolate, and/or muted the complex flavors that make a negroni a negroni. Then he hit on the idea of infusing the gin with cacao nibs.
What are cacao nibs?
Cacao nibs are small pieces of crushed beans from the cacao tree. You can buy a bag of cacao nibs at Harmons or other high-end grocery stores (next to the coffee beans), but we like to get ours directly from local chocolatiers Ritual or Amano.
How to infuse your gin
First, you want a start with a gin that’s juniper forward and not overly floral. Several local Utah gins work great, including Alpine, Madame Pattirini, and Beehive Barrel Reserve. However, our favorite gin for making a Chocolate Negroni is Holystone Bosun’s Navy Strength.
1. Combine one cup of cacao nibs and one bottle (750 ml) of gin. You can use any glass container that’s big enough, but we like to use a leather goatskin bota bag. (You have one of those lying around somewhere, right?)
2. Seal your container tightly and allow the ingredients to steep for a month or more. If you’re using a glass container, it’s virtually impossible to age your gin too long, but if you’re using a goatskin bota bag, you’ll need to taste the infusion periodically to make sure you don’t overo it.
3. When you’re done aging your gin, fish out the cacao nibs, place them in cheesecloth, and squeeze them tightly to recover as much as you can of the liquid they absorbed. As they steeped, the cacao nibs inevitably soaked up some of the alcohol in your gin. Squeezing the nibs will restore part of that lost alcohol. (One of the reasons we prefer to start with Holystone Bosun’s Navy Strength gin is because of its unusually high alcohol content—it’s 114 proof.)
4. If you can’t wait to taste your chocolate-infused gin, you can enjoy it straight or over ice. But if you’re ready to make a fantastic chocolate negroni, read on.
Chocolate Negroni
Ingredients
· 1 oz chocolate-infused gin (see above). Don’t worry that your infused gin looks brown; the Campari and vermouth will give your negroni its characteristic reddish hue.
· 1 oz Campari (Substitute Aperol if you prefer something sweeter and fruiter)
· 1 oz sweet vermouth (It’s worth using a quality vermouth for your Negroni since there’s nowhere for a bad vermouth to hide among these flavors.)
· Orange peel or wedge for garnish
Instructions
1. Pour gin, Campari, and vermouth over ice in a mixing glass and stir well.
2. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice.
3. Optional: grate a few flakes of quality chocolate onto the surface of the drink. (This is not for taste so much as to increase visual appeal and the aromatics of the drink. If you get a nice nose of chocolate when you lift the glass to your lips, the first sip will be all the more delicious.
4. Garnish with the orange and enjoy.
Alla nostra, and Happy Anthony Bourdain Day!