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Negroni Week has become A Big Deal. The annual event sponsored by Campari and Imbibe magazine uses the bitter cocktail of gin, Campari and vermouth as a springboard for all sorts of laudable charitable initiatives and causes. Since it started in 2013, NW has grown to involve around 12,000 venues worldwide, all of which have registered and donate money to a charity of their choice. In London, venues participating range from Claridge’s to the Young Vic. It’s upon us right now, so check out our recommendations of where to do it in style.
Negroni Week runs until Sep 19. For a full list of participating venues head here.
The Negronis-till-they’re-coming-out-of-your-ears one
Flemings hotel in Mayfair is doing a pop-up Negroni Suite this week, which has a button in it that you can press to have a dedicated mixologist visit your room to whip you up a delicious cocktail. You can also go to the hotel’s bar, Manetta’s, where they do the classic version as well as a Chocolate Negroni, the Oaxacan (with tequila) a French (featuring Remy Martin) and even a Negroni Fizz. That’s not all, though. The Negroni Suite comes complete with an honesty bar so you can even make yourself a delicious Negroni while waiting for your Negroni maker to arrive, before heading to the bar for some Negronis.
The Negroni Suite at Flemings Mayfair Hotel is available until Sep 19. 7-12 Half Moon St, W1J 7BH. £399 for two people including breakfast and two Negronis.
The spit-and-sawdust one
What a world we live in, where a pub in Camden Stables Market does a tip-top Negroni. The Farrier has a special Negroni menu for the occasion, featuring a classic version, a sloe one and one with tequila, plus a low-ABV Lowgroni and a Negroni Sbagliato. Rather delightfully, it’s also doing a Camden Negroni, created using Half Hitch Gin and Highgate’s Sacred vermouth, both made within two miles of the pub. You can get even your horse re-shoed while you’re having your drink. Okay, that’s not strictly true.
The Farrier, Camden Stables Market, 87/88 North Yard, NW1 8AH.
The leftfield one
Created by bar manager Alessandro Palazzi, The Red Romeo at Dukes Hotel does a kind of unusual take on the Negroni. So, for instance it’s shaken, which is not the accepted method for Negroni preparation. And while it’s still a deep red colour from Campari, it also has sweeter notes of passion fruit and raspberry, so if you find the classic iteration simply too strong and bitter for you, this could be a good choice. Plus, you can drink it in the swanky surrounding of Dukes, famous for Martinis and Ian Fleming creating James Bond, so you can pretend you’re having some kind of passionate Negroni-fulled tryst in the 1950s. And who knows, maybe you are?
The Dukes Hotel, 35 St James’s Place, SW1A 1NY.
The best of the rest
We’ve got a whole list of great places to drink Negronis in London, here.
Rather have a massive stein of beer and a quarter of a pig? Our Oktoberfest picks.
Other brilliant cocktails are still available.