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One of our most popular cocktails from Thanksgiving through to the end of the December holiday period. Reminiscent of a brandy-based Negroni served straight-up...
Tried both spec and CB’s Valentino style. Reading the description for Martini rubino vermouth, I split the Campari with Select, actual vermouth was carpano. Two dashes of my favourite Bitter Truth orange bitters. Wonderful orange notes balancing the richness and bittersweetness of the other ingredients. I combined remy Martin and Camus cognacs to happy effect. A fitting celebratory libation for the end of my working year!
I should have referred to 2:1:1 proportions as "Boulevardier style" since Valentinos are nominally 4:1:1, which is quite lean. I finally got some Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Rubino Vermouth (while traveling in Portland Oregon!) and was able to pair it with their Riserva Speciale Bitter in an Independence Day Celebration using Braastad VSOP. What a combo: just the right balance of sweet and bitter with neither showing to excess, and the complexity of the vermouth and the bitter pair up like they were meant to be combined this way. Don't know if this was how D'Ercole originally designed it but this version alone merits another half star.
My Holiday Special Edition Celebration, which was as dark as a Manhattan, consisted of Camus VSOP "Elegance," Tempus Fugit Gran Classico Bitter, and Tempus Fugit Alessio Rosso Vermouth in 3:2:2 proportions, with Angostura Orange Bitters. As Kristi remarked, "This is NOT for amateurs!"
sounds potent! I haven't tried the Gran Classico, but it looks delicious! ... and looks like your recipe is nudging it back towards a more classical negroni... yum! ... re our previous discussion of aromatised wines, have you tried adding raw cinchona bark to Lillet Blanc, as per Simon's page on Kinas? I found it very successful to increase bitterness while maintaining flavour profile of sauv blanc wine with orange liqueur sweeteners. Added 1.25 ml of freshly ground bark, which seemed a good flavour balance and managed the quinine levels appropriately for safety. Obtained the bark as chips through a local online supplier and ground in mortar and pestle.