Negroni all’Arancia Rossa- A California Winter Treat

This Sunday, Cinnamon and I were at the Palo Alto Farmers Market shopping for our groceries, and I noticed a stand loaded with blood oranges. Immediately, I thought of the winter treat that we love to enjoy every year during the short blood orange season- Negroni all’Arancia Rossa, a Negroni with blood orange juice. This citrus, native to the southern Mediterranean, does well in California, and with a little luck will be around into the early spring. This fruit requires strong diurnal temperature swings with cold overnight temperatures to develop their color, but like all citrus, they hate frost. This makes them a little uncommon- so if you see one, join me in celebrating with this cocktail.

Ingredients:

2 blood orange quarters from a medium-sized blood orange

1.5 oz. Rieger's Midwestern Missouri Dry Gin

1.5 oz. Campari Bitter Liqueur

1.5 oz. Berto Vermouth Rosso "Ross da Travaj" Italian Vermouth

Plenty of good ice

The bottles basking in California’s February Sun

I love the Rieger’s Midwestern Gin, and it is my go-to for Negroni’s with its near-perfect balance. This gin is a passion project for Tom Nichol, the former master distiller at Tanqueray. He brought along not only his know-how but also his relationships with the best suppliers of botanicals in the world to this distillery in Missouri. I admit that I also like the idea of using a gin from a place that will have a high temperature of just 28 degrees today… while we are picking citrus in California. The Campari is the classic bitter ingredient for Negroni’s, while the Berto Rosso, which just arrived at K&L,  is a little less sweet than most Italian red vermouth, perfect for this cocktail since we are adding some fruit juice into the mix that has a sweetness of its own. I make my Negroni’s with a shot each of the three active ingredients, but you can make them any size that you want, respecting the one part each ratio and adjusting the blood orange juice amount to suit. In these times, a stiff drink is a good drink.

Pour the gin, Campari and red vermouth into a shaker, and squeeze the juice from one of the blood orange quarters into the shaker as well. Add plenty of ice and shake until the shaker is well frosted on the outside, and everything is well blended and cold. Pour through a cocktail strainer into a waiting rocks glass, filled with ice and garnish with the other blood orange quarter. When you are done drinking the cocktail, the blood orange slice is a delicious treat! One can also serve this up, but Negroni’s go down a little too fast this way for me… I need the ice hitting my teeth to remind me to slow down. If you serve it up, it might be better to garnish with a blood orange slice rather than a quarter.

A toast to you!

—Gary Westby