Today's cocktail is a White Negroni and is a lesson in how to invent a cocktail. I've heard a couple versions of how this came about but what is certain is that Wayne Collins decided to pair a French and a Swiss ingredient with gin for this refreshing elixer. He used the tried and true negroni formula—1 part each of gin, the bitter Campari and the sweet vermouth—and he exchanged the slightly bitter Swiss apéritif Suze for the Campari, and Lillet, the French apéritif, a gently sweet aromatized wine with nice fruit notes.
It's a lovely cocktail, sunny in color from the Suze, as shown in the below video by Katherine Guanche.
Happy Friday, all!
Next week, a haircut!
The White Negroni
an ingenious variant of the classic
Ingredients
- 1 ounce gin
- 1 ounce Suze
- 1 ounce Lillet
- 1 grapefruit twist (or lemon)
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients in a glass. Add ice and garnish with a twist.
- If you would like to serve it up, chill thoroughly and strain into a coup.
Notes
These are good proportion but sometimes I want the drink to be more gin forward and so couple the gin, as I do for a traditional negroni.
I made this yesterday, following the recipe in David Lebovitz's book, Drinking French. It had a different name in there - Triple Menace. I just bought Suze this week because it's in about 10 recipes from his book. Suze definitely has a different flavor to it than other bitters I've had. The one I've enjoyed the most is the St. George Bruto Americano.
To the weekend -
I have his book. I'll have to have a look.
Great choice & nice poem.
I’ve been a fan of the white Negroni for years. My recipe is from Tom Douglas: 2 oz gin, 1 oz Lillet and just 3/4 oz Suze, twist of lemon. Iced glass.
Happy Friday all
I'm totally on board with a 2:1:1 ratio.
Beautiful cocktail, beautiful poem. I have none of those ingredients, yet will soon acquire them since my babies' wills are continuously sprouting like mushrooms. (They are not babies, ha.)