“I can’t explain what possessed me,” explains New York City bartender Joaquín Simó, “but within five minutes of spirits importer Eric Seed handing me a bottle of Smith & Cross, I had created this drink.” He began with the blueprint for a classic Negroni, wanting to avoid muddying the flavors with too many other ingredients. “It strikes me as strange that the first thought I had when smelling and tasting this funky, estery, hogo-reeking, grilled banana bread, smoking allspice, brute of an overproof Jamaican rum was, ‘How do I work this into a stirred apertivo?’” Simó usually avoids using Carpano Antica in Negronis—he thinks it can be a bit of a bully—but in the case of a Smith & Cross base, he thought it could stand up to the vermouth’s bombastic chocolate and bitter orange notes, while tempering Campari’s bitterness.
Kingston Negroni
Joaquín Simó, Pouring Ribbons | New York City
Ingredients
Serving: 1
- 1 ounce Jamaican rum (preferably Smith & Cross)
- 1 ounce Campari
- 1 ounce sweet vermouth (preferably Carpano Antica)
Garnish: long, trimmed orange peel
Directions
- Add all ingredients to a mixing glass.
- Add ice and stir until chilled.
- Strain into over ice (preferably a large cube) into a rocks glass.
- Garnish with a long, trimmed orange peel.