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Recipes & pairings

The negroni we’ve been mixing all year

Equal parts Saffron Gin, a slightly sweet Italian vermouth, a Campari proxy made in Friesland. The ratios we’ve settled on, and the ice we won’t compromise on.

The negroni we’ve been mixing all year — cover

A negroni is supposed to be equal parts: 30ml gin, 30ml sweet vermouth, 30ml Campari. The ratios are old, dependable, and — we’ve come to feel — wrong for a saffron-led gin.

After a year of trying ratios we’ve landed on 40 / 25 / 25. The extra gin gives the saffron room to breathe; the slightly reduced vermouth and bitter keep the drink from going syrupy. We use a Friesian bitter rather than Campari — a local distillery in Sneek makes something with rhubarb root that drinks rounder and a degree less aggressive.

Stir, don’t shake. Forty seconds with hard ice. Strain into a rocks glass over one cube — a single proper cube, not a handful of chips. A long peel of orange, expressed and dropped.

It is a December drink. It is also a July drink. We have not found a month it isn’t.

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