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For ➊The negroni was invented in Florence, Italy in 1919, at Caffè Casoni. Count Negroni invented it by asking the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water.
The 'negroni sbagliato' ("wrong negroni" in Italian) uses sparkling wine (e.g., prosecco) instead of gin.
Negroski is a recipe with vodka again as substitute for gin.
Cardinaloski is a negroski with some angostura drops.
Punt e Mes negroni instead replaces standard red vermouth with a specific, distinctively more bitter-tasting brand called Punt e Mes.
The cin cyn uses Cynar an artichoke based liquor, instead of Campari.
Pinkish negroni is made with pink wine (instead of gin).
A raultini is a variation using Aperol instead of Campari, giving its distinctive orange color, lighter alcohol content, and a bit of sweetness.
The most basic variation is served straight up in a martini glass with a splash of carbonated water floating on top of the alcohol mixture and a twist of lemon zest replacing the orange peel, known as the American version.
Other Italian versions substitute spumante brut or vodka for gin. A sparkling negroni is made with champagne or prosecco.
For ➊When Austria reigned the North of Italy, they developed a habit of diluting the wine with water, called 'Spritzer'. Italians rethought the formula by adding a bitter aperitivo to (sparkling) white wine, and tipping it with a splash of sparkling water, hence the Austrian name 'Spritz' or 'injection'. The typical Venetian spritz has 3 equal parts of each ingredient, other recipes tend to use 40% of wine, and 30% each of water and aperitivo. When using a sparkling wine and a low alcoholic aperitivo like Aperol, you can omit the sparkling water or limit it to a splash, 6 cl wine, 4 cl Aperol, splash of soda, the classic recipe of Aperol since 1950.
Normally, a red/orange aperitivo is used, but it can be replaced by others, like Cynar, or even the orange-based curaçao blue (resulting in a blue cocktail).
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For ➋*A sophisticated 21st century twist on the popular 70's mix Campari orange mix. The herbal bitterness of the Campari, the tart sweet sourness of the blood orange and the sparkling bitter of the brut mix together well. Campari orange was mainly an American invention, quickly followed by Western European countries. In Italy, it is still drunk as an aperitivo, with soda water to release the bitter fragrances of quinine, rhubarb, ginseng, orange peels and aromatic herbs. The aperitivo was launched in the 1840's, to counter the bitter sweet cordials from Holland, spreading over Europe. It was mainly drunk as an opener, 'apertitiuvum' in Latin, to speed up the appetite for the coming dinner. Bitters have long been considered to stimulate digesting.
Campari is also used as a main ingredient for the Negroni (equal parts gin, white vermouth, Campari on ice) and James Bond favourite Americano (white vermouth, Campari and a splash of soda on ice) cocktails. It has become fashionable again, due to extensive marketing, including lush limited edition calendars.
Read more on twisted cocktails: fino martini, quick mint cider.
For ➊The famous Amer Picon cordial, (bitter Picon) was invented by Gaetan Picon in 1837 in French colony Algeria. He set up a proper Picon-factory in Marseille in 1872. Picon was born in Genua (annexed by France at the time) and knew Italian ameros, the bitter herbal liquors to get through winters. The original formula was close to these traditional Italian bitters with a mix of bitter orange extracts, quinine bark, gentian root and distilled alcohol.
Picon became especially popular in the North and East of France, the poorer areas of the Republic, as a cheap way to heighten the alcohol volume when a a generous shot was added to the beer.
For some unexplained reasons, the habit crossed the border to Belgium, where in the 1920's & '30's the shot was added to white wine, normally dry but it could be sweet as well.
For that reason, what is called Picon Bière in France is sold in Belgium (and the rest of the world) as Amer Picon. The so-called Picon Club became a hit, and Picon launched it's own 'Picon Club' variety to be added to white wine. Meanwhile, the alcohol volume was reduced to 21° (for the Amer) and 18° (for the Orange version). In the USA, where the original was popular in the 20's and '30's, some manufacturers have tried to re-establish the original formula with the classic strength.
As for the cocktail, some have come up with some sweetener like Cointreau, adding some lemon juice to adjust the citrus and lower the sweetness, some adding cognac to heighten the alcohol volume.
Picon can also be drunk on the rocks.
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For ➍This classic Brazil summer breeze drink was invented in colonial Punjab in the 19th century. Let's call it Indian and English as well.
For a stronger version, see another clericot.
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