The History Of The Negroni

Sometimes a trend comes along and it’s gone in the flash of a pan (is anyone still buying NFT’s)

The Negroni has been a massive trend over the last 5 years but this one has been over 100 years in the making.

The question is though, what is the history of the Negroni?

What Is A Negroni?

The Negroni is a big, grown-up cocktail that people with serious palates order. As divisive as marmite, the Negroni captured the world’s attention in 2018 and it’s continued its meteoric rise in the hearts and minds of cocktail lovers.

It’s classic taste and complex taste coupled with its simplicity to make, has made the Negroni relevant for over 100 years.

Made with equal measures of Gin, Campari and Vermouth, the Negroni Recipe is big, bold and complex, with a bitterness that can be too much for some.

Created to be sipped, the Negroni is a well-balanced concoction which has really stood the test of time.

The History Of The Negroni

The stories behind many of the world’s most famous cocktails are the stuff of myth and legend and the Negroni is no different.

The most common story is the Negroni was created by Count Camillo Negroni in 1919 when he requested bartender Fosco Scarselli at Caffè Casoni to create a stronger version of his favourite cocktail, an Americano.

Legend has it, that Count Negroni requested for the soda the be replaced with gin. There was also a change of the garnish to orange to complement the ingredients within the cocktail.

It became obvious that our friend the Count had stumbled upon something magical and his family founded the Negroni distillery and began to create a Negroni prebatched cocktail in no time at all.

With the modern craze for RTDs, it’s incredible to think that ready-to-drink cocktails were being made over 100 years ago!

Another less popular interpretation is from the count’s namesake Pascal Negroni.

It’s alleged that Pascal Negroni created the cocktail half a century before Count Camillo Negroni’s spin on an Americano.

Around the 1870s, whilst fighting in the war, during high-ranking military “meetings”, Pascal Negroni would create some of his signature Vermouth-based cocktails, which are now believed by some to be the original Negroni.

It feels debatable that a soldier was knocking out cocktails for the military command while planning the next big push…but what do we know?

The Negroni Today

The Negroni is the rockstar of the cocktail world. Easy to make, complex and delicious, it’s everything a classic cocktail should be.

Such is its popularity, it has been regarded for many years as one of the world’s favourite cocktails. There’s a National Negroni Week here in the UK, countless ready-to-drink Negroni cocktails and more Negroni variations than you can shake a stick at.

Will its popularity continue? We think yes it will. It has a timeless quality to it, it’s easy to make with accessible ingredients and as mentioned it has been over 100 years gathering steam to its big splash into the mainstream.

The Negroni & It’s Cousins

The Negroni has a big family. There are so many cocktails that have spawned from the little red general. If you head over to

Here are a few of them:

Americano

The Americano is an old cocktail (if the tales are to be believed older than the Negroni itself).
The Americano is an underrated gem and a precursor to the spritz trend we are witnessing currently.
It’s a lower abv cocktail that’s refreshing with a really nice flavour. The ideal beverage for those late afternoon cocktail cravings.

Pineapple Negroni

The Pineapple Negroni is a clever serve created by the carbon negative rum distillery Two Drifters. The Two Drifters Pineapple Rum has an interesting flavour that brings a lot to the party.  This variation simply switches the Two Drifters Rum with gin for a tropical and complex Negroni twist.

The White Negroni

British Mixologist Wayne Collins created this spin on a Negroni, replacing Vermouth and Campari with Lillet Blanc and Suze.
As the colour of the cocktail suggests, the White Negroni is lighter and sweeter, yet still with a prominent bitterness and complexity.
This reinvented Negroni is so good in fact it made it onto menus of some of the world’s best bars including Dante and Employees Only.

Negroni Sbagliato

This version of the Negroni blew up on TikTok and became the cocktail of the summer a few years ago.
A kind of hybrid between the Aperold Spritz and its eponymous Negroni, The Sbagliato switches out the gin for prosecco to create a spritzy and refreshing serve.

Aperol Negroni

It had to happen at some point and it did. Purists will recoil in disgust, but actually, this is a pretty decent cocktail and its particularly good for those who struggle with the original Negroni’s big bitter flavours.
Aperol is a sweeter, less bitter spirit and it lends itself rather nicely to the gin and vermouth to create a subtler cocktail with some citrus notes. A great way to get creative with the Aperol in the booze cupboard.