When the Bartender Creates a Cocktail Just for You!

Bars and restaurants that create seasonal cocktails are the best! Recently, Laurie and I visited a fantastic restaurant in downtown Sarasota called Sage that showcases delicious and creative cocktails tailored for the season. After chatting up the bartender, she was kind enough to create a cocktail just for us that was a riff on of one of our favorites – the classic Negroni. I present to you, ... the Negroni Purezza!

The Negroni Purezza!

Laurie and I absolutely love the Negroni cocktail. This drink is an acquired taste for many due to its inherently bitter flavor profile. The classic Negroni, an Italian cocktail, includes one part gin, one part vermouth rosso, and one part Campari (which provides the bitterness in the drink). It’s traditionally stirred, not shaken, and served in a rocks glass over a large ice cube.

Our favorite take on the classic is from Centrolina, a fantastic Italian restaurant at City Center in Washington DC. Their unique version trades Contratto Bitters for the Campari which results in a smoother, less bitter version of the classic (which I’ll talk about in a future post!). But we have never seen a white Negroni before, until we visited Sage restaurant in downtown Sarasota. This unusual variation of the traditional Negroni was a revelation to both Laurie and I – we could definitely taste the classic components of the Negroni in this version, but it replaced the bitter profile with a sweeter one, and the caramel color for a clear cocktail.

As we chatted up the bartender about the drink, we started talking about other liquors that Laurie and I liked as well as other versions of Negronis we had tried like the one from Centrolina. I think that conversation got our bartender’s creative juices flowing, and she offered to create an alternative version of their “Negroni Purezza” using some of the different liquors we had been talking about. It was the first time a bartender had created a drink on the spot just for us, and it was fantastic!

The final version included four different spirits/liqueurs – London Dry Gin, Italicus, Vermouth Blanc, and Cocchi Americano Blanco. The gin she chose was Highclere Castle Gin, a classic London dry gin with lots of juniper and a clean, smooth, slightly sweet finish. Italicus is a newer Italian liqueur released in 2016 that uses bergamot oranges from Calabria and citrons from Sicily, along with Italian flower varieties and herbs. It’s sweet, with bright orange flavor along with strong floral notes. It’s also a lighter liqueur with only 20% alcohol by volume (ABV).

The Vermouth she used was Dolin Vermouth Blanc, a slightly sweet but light vermouth that finishes somewhat dry on the palate. The last ingredient was Cocchi Americano Blanco, an Italian aperitif wine flavored with quinine – it’s slightly sweet but also has a hit of light bitterness on the finish. The comparisons with the classic Negroni are clear – there’s the gin of course, but also the orange flavors courtesy of the Italicus, along with the bitterness courtesy of the Cocchi Americano. She added some lemon peel while stirring the cocktail with ice for a punch of citrus flavor as well.

The result is a delicious, lighter and less bitter version of the original that’s entirely unique, incredibly tasty and easy to make as well! Adding these different aperitifs and liqueurs to your bar will inspire you to create your own cocktails, as it has Laurie and I – you’ll definitely see these in future posts. In the meantime, here’s the recipe for the Geis Negroni Purezza! Give it a try and let me know what you think!

The Bar at Sage in Downtown Sarasota

The Negroni Purezza (makes 1 cocktail)

Ingredients

2 ¼ oz. London Dry Gin (we love the Highclere Castle or No. 3)

¾ oz. Italicus

¾ oz. Dolin Blanc Vermouth or Carpano Blanco

½ oz. Cocchi Americano Blanco

Lemon peel for stirring and garnish

Directions

Combine the ingredients into a cocktail mixing glass with ice. Stir for about 20 seconds until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with a lemon peel.