Presented by Cooks’ World and Pinnacle Wine & Liquor

Negroni week is upon us again. It’s an annual global fundraiser for a great cause through participating bars, but it’s okay to make negronis at home, too! If you want to have fun, find a participating Negroni Week bar near you and ask them for a Slow Negroni. 

If you know and love Negronis, you’ll love this cocktail; it’s a Negroni plus sloe gin, lending a measure of dark berry flavor to the Campari/gin/sweet vermouth classic Negroni.

THE SLOW NEGRONI 
In a mixing glass, combine equal parts of these ingredients; two-thirds of an ounce each is an excellent place to start:

London Dry Gin (ideally Sipsmith VJOP)
Campari
Sweet vermouth (ideally Cocchi Vermouth di Torino)
Sloe Gin (ideally Sipsmith Sloe Gin)

Add plenty of fresh ice and stir the ingredients for 15 seconds (until well chilled). Strain the drink into a rocks or Old Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice (ideally a single giant rock of clear ice). Express the oils from a broad strip of orange peel over the drink and use the peel as a garnish. (Flame that peel over the drink if you know how and are confident.)

If you prefer, you could build the drink (i.e., combine and stir the ingredients and ice in the glass), but I recommend the mixing glass approach to keep the drink colder longer. 

Alert Libation Loungers may recall that we posted a handful of holiday- and winter-friendly sloe gin cocktails last December (go there to learn more about sloe gin), and sloe gin appears in several other Libation Lounge posts. Just type “sloe” in that search box at the top of this page to find them.

Shout out to the official supplier of elegant clear ice to the Libation Lounge: My friend Ralph DiTucci of Cristallino Premium Ice and Grace & Disgrace. 

About our Cocktail of the Week partners—shop local and independent!
Cooks’ World and Pinnacle Wine & Liquor are less than a mile from each other, on Monroe Avenue near Twelve Corners in Brighton.

Cooks’ World, in business since 1978, is Rochester’s premier retailer of dining, kitchen, and cooking products, including a complete selection of glassware, mixology tools, and accessories for wine and spirits lovers. Follow Cooks’ World on Facebook and Instagram. Sign up here to receive Cooks’ World’s daily email specials and other news. 

Pinnacle Wine & Liquor, in business since 1997, offers a thoughtfully curated selection of spirits and wine from around the world, with a savvy staff to assist in your selection and encourage you along your cocktail and wine journey. Follow Pinnacle on Facebook and Instagram. For the inside track on Pinnacle’s spirits sales, send two text messages to (585)765-7546:
— Text the word “bourbon,” to receive weekly text messages offering the chance to buy rare or allocated whiskies or special prices on popular products.
—Text the word “spirits,” to receive roughly monthly offers on fine spirits other than whiskies.