Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Cinco de Derby

Happy Derby and Cinco de Mayo Friday! Hopefully you’ve all got something lined up for this excellent weekend. Me? I’ll be out of state at a friend’s wedding that they are turning into a giant Kentucky Derby party. Unfortunately, the Cinco de Mayo portion of the weekend is travel for me so I’ll be indulging a little extra for the derby. As to the beverages for the derby, I kind of wanted to go in a bit of a different direction and make it a little weird. For a while I’ve been sitting on a bottle of Amaro Nonino since I made a Paper Plane a while ago. I found a reddit thread (yes, reddit can still be good for some things still). It’s essentially a negroni with amaro instead of campari. A little skeptical of this recipe, I sent the link over to my bartender friend, and he thought it was a good idea, with the suggestion of adding more gin, since it sounded too sweet. So, heeding that advice, I doubled the gin and went to work:

2 oz. London Dry gin

1 oz. Amaro nonino

1 oz. Sweet vermouth

Stir with cracked ice. Strain into rocks glass and garnish with an orange peel. 

The aroma is somewhat sweet, with the slightly herbal notes of the amaro pairing nicely lead the way. The subtlety is welcome actually. I think anything more powerful (cough cough gin) could throw off the perceived flavor balance on the sip.

Upon sampling, I’m glad this is the case. It actually is closer to a negroni than I expected it to be. Instead of the intense bitterness of a regular negroni, most of the bitter flavor comes from the natural bittersweet from the amaro. The juniper and other herbs from the gin shine through to give the initial impression of the negroni. The vermouth does it’s job of reigning in the other ingredients very well. Just as it does in a regular negroni. Also speaking of the vermouth, I splurged a bit and got Noilly Prat this time, instead of the usual Martini & Rossi. I think this French variant might be the new mainstay in the bar. of all the drinks I’ve made with it, they have (at least to me) seemed improved.

Anyway, the finish is a nice collection of all the other flavors mixed together, with a slightly bitter end note. Just like a negroni, I get a bitter aftertaste that lingers on my palate. However, it is nowhere near as intense as a campari based negroni, and it dissipates fairly quickly.

Would I make this again? I definitely would. If I was in the mood for a negroni and am sadly out of campari (currently my situation) this will do in a pinch. I would absolutely follow the recommendation of adding extra gin. This would definitely skew more toward the sweeter end if you didn’t have the extra gin, and I’m not sure I would be a fan of that. Enjoy the weekend and good luck on any bets made on the Derby. Praise Gamblor!

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)