It’s been almost a year since I had my last alcoholic beverage, and in that time I must admit to feeling much better both physically and mentally. In addition to that, I’ve been lucky enough not to really miss it all that much – and if I can give up drinking in 2020 then I can pretty much do fucking anything. The only time I felt a slight tinge of wanting alcohol was when the seasons shifted and the idea of a Negroni drifted across my radar. It was probably my all-time favorite cocktail, and I loved it in the spring, and most especially in the fall, when its bitter orange flavor cut through the colder air and warmed the interior of my belly.
I remember several specific moments that happened around a negroni – a fall afternoon before a Madonna concert with Suzie in New York City, an October evening at the Front Porch while waiting for my parents and Andy to join me for dinner, and the flight of Negronis at Cinquecento with Andy on a Boston date night. It holds a special place in my heart, and was the one thing I missed. Especially in late August, when the weather shifts into something cooler, which also happened to be the night of crazy lightning storms right before my birthday this year.
Andy and I were in Boston, trying out the new Terra restaurant at Eataly. We’d only dressed for summer because the day had been so stifling, and by the time the storms descended, we were seated and chilly. The idea of a proper Negroni suddenly seized me, with its bitter bite and bright red coloration. It screamed coziness and warmth and fall in the best possible ways. My cucumber mocktail arrived, and while it was delicious it was slightly too sweet. Designed more for mid-summer than the end of it, and definitely not a cool, stormy night. Andy’s twist on orange soda arrived, and he took a sip and immediately offered some to me, saying it was strange but good.
I waited a bit and then took a sip. Immediately I perked up. This was it! The taste I’d been craving, the slight sting of bitterness that had proven elusive all these months of mocktail-making. It was the closest I’d come to finding a drink that tasted like the tricky Campari element that forms the main thrust of a Negroni. The soda was called Ginger Baladin – produced in Italy and the closest approximation to Campari that I have found. Locating the remaining bottles that Eataly had in stock the next day, we brought them all home, and proceeded to order a bunch more from their website. One can never have enough Negronis for fall.
While it stands alone as an aperitif and Negroni substitute, I added the juice of an orange for a deeper citrus flavor, and a couple drops of bitters for added, well, bitterness. A few days later I tried it again with a blood orange, which worked even better, lending it a deeper red color more reminiscent of the original inspiration. My Negroni fix was fixed, and fall was suddenly a whole lot brighter, and more brilliantly bitter.
