Batched Negroni

Mixed By:

The Elevated Craft Team

With Negroni Week just around the corner (Sept 18-24), you can get ahead of the game by pre-batching this classic cocktail. All it takes is a little bit of advance planning and you can have an impressive ready-to-serve drink on hand for whatever life brings your way: last-minute parties, friends who stop by unannounced, or even quiet evenings at home.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or just now starting to discover the balance of flavors the Negroni offers, you can let the herbal bitterness of the Campari, the sweetness of the vermouth, and the botanical notes of the gin take your palate on a journey where bold meets balanced in timeless fashion.

(Originally published 9/15/23)

Ingredients:

This Negroni recipe has been scaled to make a 20.5 oz. batch using your Hybrid Cocktail Shaker as the serving carafe

5 ½ oz. Gin
5 ½ oz. Campari
5 ½ oz. Sweet Vermouth
4 oz. Water
Orange Twist (for garnish)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into your Hybrid Cocktail Shaker and place in your refrigerator until ready to serve (do not put your shaker in the freezer - use an air-tight bottle instead).
When ready to serve, stir the contents of the shaker and then pour servings into your Hybrid Cocktail Glass over a large ice cube.
Squeeze an orange twist over the surface of the drink, then drop in the glass.

Notes:

Other Pre-Batch Cocktail Ideas

Not a fan of the Negroni? You can pre-batch other cocktails such as the Martini or the herbal-leaning Alaska. Classic cocktails such as an Old-Fashioned, Sazarac, or Manhattan also make excellent candidates for pre-batching.

Generally, spirit-forward, stirred cocktails make for the best pre-batching and freezing experience as their higher alcohol content prevents the drink from turning icy if stored in your freezer. Long story short: if it's boozy and shelf-stable, you can pre-batch it.

Tips & Tricks for Pre-Batching:

Use high-proof liquor (30% or above). This will help the cocktail from freezing solid if stored in your freezer.
If storing in one of the Negroni ingredient's bottles, decant the liquor you pour off into a spare bottle to use for other cocktails.
Stir or shake the cocktail before serving. This will help to distribute the ingredients evenly.
Don't forget the water! Because a batch cocktail is not being stirred over ice, it lacks the water needed for balance that would traditionally come from the ice. With cocktails served over ice, the ideal dilution is about 20% water.

History of the Negroni

Like with many cocktail innovations, there are a few stories about where and when this famous cocktail was created.

The most common story is that the Negroni was created around 1920 by Count Camillo Negroni, a nobleman with an adventurous palate, when he asked his bartender, Fosco Scarselli at Caffè Casoni in Florence, Italy to create a stronger version of his favorite cocktail - the Americano - requesting he replace the soda with gin. The garnish was also changed from a lemon to an orange to further compliment the new creation. Little did they know that this simple twist would be the start of a sensation that continues to endure to this day.

History of Freezer Door Cocktails

The idea of freezer door cocktails is thought to have originated in the early 2000s. The first known mention of the freezer door cocktail was in a blog post from 2004 titled "Freezer Door Cocktails: The Newest Trend in Cocktail Making" and has been popularized by content creators like J.M. Hirsch, editorial director of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street, who share their recipes on social media platforms like TikTok.