Funk-groni Negroni

After taking a class at Bourbon and Branch on molecular gastronomy cocktails, we ended up at the shiny new, gloriously-tiki-ed-out Zombie Village in San Francisco. We started chatting with the bartender (Doc Parks) who ended up being a bit of a mini-celebrity in the tiki world. At any rate, I had a sudden flash of inspiration and asked for a Rumfire negroni. He thought about it for a second and advised me to split the base with another quieter rum. The result was brilliant.

The other day, hankering for one of those again, I decided to follow his advice and split the base. I also substituted dry vermouth for sweet vermouth, since I found the rum sweet enough on its own. My longstanding gripe with the “rumgroni” or “Jamaican Negroni”, where the gin is simply subbed out for the rum, is that it becomes too sweet.

Initially, we went without the Banane du Bresil, but ended up adding just a splash (0.25 oz) to add an extra layer of complexity to it. Plus, it smells really yummy with the Giffard. But in case you don’t have it, just know that the drink tastes remarkable without the Giffard as well. It is simply an extra flourish.

Ingredients

• 0.75 oz Rumfire
• 0.75 oz Dark Rum (El Dorado 5 is a good choice; we used Ron Santiago 12 in this one. You want something sweet to offset the rumfire)
• 1 oz Dry Vermouth (we used Dolin)
• 1 oz Campari
• 0.25 oz Giffard’s Banane du Bresil

Glass

Tumbler

Instructions

• Mix and strain onto a rock
• Don’t garnish it because you are lazy and impatient.