Essential Musings: The Negroni
words by Will HALBERT
To hell with your milk and cookies, Santa wants Reverend Hubert’s Winter Negroni
I once overheard a bartender say that the Negroni tastes like a mouthful of old pennies. Try as I might I can’t rightly refute that. The Negroni is a lop-sided little libation with a chinotto-infused chip on its shoulder at the best of times; a copper-red, now-cochineal-free, glass of unapologetic bitterness. I love it to death, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish they’d mellow out every once in a while.
I swap out the gin every chance I get nowadays, as there’s not a mezcal out there that doesn’t make the bitter wee bastard that little bit better. But that swap out won’t do anything to offset the cocktail’s boozy heft.
Reverend Hubert Winter Liqueur fills a gap in the ol’ speedrail, in that respect. A warming, gin-forward amalgam of dried fruit, winter spices and organic, Amalfi orange and lemon zests, the good Reverend Hubert has all the complexity of a fully-fledged gin at a fraction of the ABV. It not only straightens out the classically (and endearingly) wonky notes of a Negroni, it also nudges the drink into the festive, winter-warming realms of mulled wine and spiced cider.
Reverendhubert.com
