If you like a Negroni, you will love this version made with Gran Classico Bitter instead of Campari. A Negroni Classico is a complex, smooth blend of sweet and bitter, with interesting herbal notes.
I have a bit of a fascination with cocktails that use Italian bitters. Discovering Gran Classico adds another bitter to my cocktail-making repertoire.
Gran Classico is a bitter aperitif liqueur created in the 1860s following the “Italian Bitter of Turin” recipe. Originally called Torino Gran Classico, it was produced in Turin, Italy. The recipe was purchased in 1925 by the small Swiss distillery E. Luginbühl. It is made using a blend of 25 aromatic herbs and roots including wormwood, gentian, bitter orange, rhubarb, and hyssop. The liqueur has a natural beautiful golden-amber color unlike many bitters that use artificial color.
Gran Classico is rumored to be the bitter that inspired the original Campari recipe. The Campari recipe has changed and the two bitters now taste very different. I like both versions of the Negroni. Isn’t it nice to have options?
This recipe makes 2 drinks.
Ingredients
- 3 ounces gin
- 2 ounces sweet vermouth
- 2 ounces Gran Classico
- Orange slices for garnish
Directions
In a cocktail pitcher, combine gin, vermouth and Gran Classico. Stir.
Fill two glasses with ice. Pour the Negroni cocktail into the glasses and swirl the liqueur with the ice. Garnish with orange slices.
Sip a little bit of cocktail heaven.
Related Posts
For a more traditional Negroni recipe, try Negroni Cocktails.
Or, try some of these cocktails:
I have a collection of amaro including grand classico. I have been using Campari and Averna half and half in mine. I like the bitter note the Avera adds, but will happily try the classico.
I’m going to try your version of half Averna and half Campari. That sounds very interesting. Thank you for the suggestion!
I hope that you like the Classico.