The market · Liqueurs and bitters · Southern Europe

Campari

The red Milanese bitter: bittersweet, orange and rhubarb, with a grip that carries through ice and soda.

bitter orange · rhubarb · sweet

What to do with it

Classics built on it
The cocktail barNegroniGin, Campari and sweet vermouth in equal parts, stirred: bitter, sweet and strong at once.No one here has made it yet

If you can't find it

Everywhere.

  1. 1Aperol
    The same
    You lose the bitterness; it's sweeter and lighter.

Goes with

sweet vermouthlondon dry ginsoda watergrapefruit

Knowing it

Where to buy
Its strength varies by country, from about 20% to 28% — check the label; it changes how a Negroni tastes.
A little history
First made in the 1860s by Gaspare Campari; the recipe is secret, and its red came from cochineal until the mid-2000s in most markets.
Worth knowing
Negroni: equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. To batch, add about 20% water by volume and keep the bottle in the fridge — it pours ready to drink. A few drops of saline soften the bitterness without dulling it.

Kitchens that keep it in

New York, Mexico City, London, BarcelonaThe cocktail barSpirit, acid and sugar balanced to the gram — and lately a lab's worth of technique: clarifying, fat-washing, infusing, carbonating, until a drink can taste of a whole dish.9 classics · 4 cooked here

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