White Negroni - A Modern Classic - The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess
- 8 years ago
For whatever reason, the popularity of the Negroni has been on an up-hill climb for the last year or two. I think it may have started with “barrel aged” Negroni’s, and then shifted to countless Negroni variations, some of them baring little resemblance to the actual Negroni itself.
The original Negroni variation was probably the “White Negroni” by Wayne Collins. He created it on a lark in 2001. As he tells the story, he was representing Plymouth Gin at the International Cocktail Challenge at VinExp in Bordeaux. The day before the finals (where his cocktail, the Gin Genie, won “Best White Spirit Cocktail”), he was making plans for a dinner party with some friends and was thinking about what to serve for the pre-dinner cocktails. His friend Nick Blacknell suggested Negronis, but Wayne wanted to try to focus more on French ingredients. He immediately thought of Lillet Blanc and Suze, thinking they might be able to play similar roles in the drink as sweet vermouth and Campari would have. Thus the White Negroni was born.
Returning to London, Wayne introduced Simon Ford, then the brand ambassador for Plymouth Gin, to the drink, and he immediately fell in love with it. In 2003, when Simon was launching Plymouth Gin in the US (Plymouth Gin has a long and amazing history, remind me to tell you about it some time), he introduced Audrey Saunders to the White Negroni when she was in charge of Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle hotel (yes, in the video I said the Pegu Club, but 2003 was just a few years before the Pegu Club opened), and from there it spread throughout the city.
The White Negroni, while only having gin in common with the original drink, is a wonderful variation and I think deserves full consideration for being a modern classic. The only sticking point here is that Suze was, and is, a difficult product to find in some parts of the country. In Europe it is fairly common, but here in the US, it can be very difficult to find. It used to be occasionally available here in Washington state, but recently it’s distributer decided to stop providing it. In order to make this drink,I had to have some shipped in from New York (where it is readily available). If Suze is available in your area, I highly recommend that you try this drink out and let us know what you think!
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Watch this episode on Small Screen:
Recipe:
Gin
Lillet Blanc
Suze
Instructions:
The original Negroni variation was probably the “White Negroni” by Wayne Collins. He created it on a lark in 2001. As he tells the story, he was representing Plymouth Gin at the International Cocktail Challenge at VinExp in Bordeaux. The day before the finals (where his cocktail, the Gin Genie, won “Best White Spirit Cocktail”), he was making plans for a dinner party with some friends and was thinking about what to serve for the pre-dinner cocktails. His friend Nick Blacknell suggested Negronis, but Wayne wanted to try to focus more on French ingredients. He immediately thought of Lillet Blanc and Suze, thinking they might be able to play similar roles in the drink as sweet vermouth and Campari would have. Thus the White Negroni was born.
Returning to London, Wayne introduced Simon Ford, then the brand ambassador for Plymouth Gin, to the drink, and he immediately fell in love with it. In 2003, when Simon was launching Plymouth Gin in the US (Plymouth Gin has a long and amazing history, remind me to tell you about it some time), he introduced Audrey Saunders to the White Negroni when she was in charge of Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle hotel (yes, in the video I said the Pegu Club, but 2003 was just a few years before the Pegu Club opened), and from there it spread throughout the city.
The White Negroni, while only having gin in common with the original drink, is a wonderful variation and I think deserves full consideration for being a modern classic. The only sticking point here is that Suze was, and is, a difficult product to find in some parts of the country. In Europe it is fairly common, but here in the US, it can be very difficult to find. It used to be occasionally available here in Washington state, but recently it’s distributer decided to stop providing it. In order to make this drink,I had to have some shipped in from New York (where it is readily available). If Suze is available in your area, I highly recommend that you try this drink out and let us know what you think!
Small Screen delivers beautifully crafted videos about cocktails, bartending, mixology, food and cooking, each and every week. SUBSCRIBE to Small Screen: http://bit.ly/MF8FOT
Sign up for the Small Screen email newsletter & be the first to know when new episodes air on our site!: http://bit.ly/13B6uVE
The Cocktail Spirit on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1ajfvq5
Small Screen on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/15F6PwT
Small Screen on Twitter: http://bit.ly/16Drsuj
Small Screen on Pinterest: http://bit.ly/18lxkp9
Watch this episode on Small Screen:
Recipe:
Gin
Lillet Blanc
Suze
Instructions: