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How To Make A Negroni – Breakfast Negroni

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Last Updated on June 8, 2023 by Leah Hall

This bacon infused Campari Negroni with coffee infused vermouth is a tasty Breakfast Negroni variation!

 

Every year when June rolls around, we start thinking about one classic cocktail, the Negroni. This is thanks to Imbibe Magazine’s Negroni Week event.  We always like to celebrate Negroni Week by creating a special take of the classic cocktail with a Campari Negroni. This year we have a real special take on the Negroni, a Breakfast Negroni, which uses gin, coffee infused sweet vermouth and bacon infused Campari to knock your socks off!

Cocktail in gold rimmed rocks glass with bacon, beefeater bottle behind

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What is a Negroni?

First, lets get down to the basics, what is a Campari Negroni? The Negroni is a classic cocktail with origins in Florence, Italy, where one of the bartenders at Caffè Casoni was charged with making a fortified version of Count Camillo Negroni’s favorite drink, and soon thereafter the Negroni was born! Obviously a strong cocktail that that is all spirits was a favorite with many of Negroni’s fellow patrons, and the Negroni swept over Italy to become a sensation!

Cocktail in gold rimmed rocks glass with bacon

These days, the Negroni is a favorite of the bartenders and cocktail fans who value it for its spirit forward personality and its bold bitter flavor. With it being made entirely of spirits, it also serves as a great starting point to make some great variations. It is one of the simplest cocktails to make as the recipe is super easy to remember, one part each of all the ingredients! Mix in a mixing glass over ice and you have yourself a Campari Negroni!

 

Breakfast Negroni

In this case, we wanted a cocktail to celebrate our favorite meal, breakfast! We love a great rich cup of coffee, eggs and a side of bacon as a way to start the day or as a quick easy meal for dinner (Brinner anyone?) With breakfast in mind, we wanted to make a cocktail that would highlight the flavors of one of our favorite meals.  It was from this brainstorm that the sun started to shine on the Breakfast Negroni!

Cocktail in gold rimmed rocks glass with bacon, black background

Negroni Ingredients

The first thing we thought of if we were making a cocktail that paid homage to breakfast is coffee. Coffee is the way we start our day, so featuring coffee was essential! We didn’t want to change the full spirited nature of the negroni by using plain coffee so we decided to infuse some sweet vermouth with coffee beans. Coffee and sweet vermouth are a good combination, the herbal sweetness of the vermouth complimenting the earthy bitter notes of the coffee. This was a fantastic combination and might be one of our favorite infusions we have ever made!

Fat Washing

With the coffee part figured out, it was time to make some bacon! Wait, what? How are we going to use bacon in a cocktail? To get that bacon flavor into a spirit, we used a technique called fat washing. Fat washing is a way to strip out al those delicious savory flavors of salt, smoke and pork fat and infuse them into a spirit by utilizing a little science!

 

Many of the flavors that delight our taste buds are contained in aromatic oils and fats. Now most of us know that oil and water don’t mix together very well! So, its always been really hard to extract those oils out of something and get them to mix in with water. This is where the alcohol comes in and helps create the party in our mouth!  Alcohol is one of those cool chemical compounds that likes to dissolve oils and fats. It lets those lovely little flavors now mix with water (or water based liquids like juices!)

 

What Ingredients are Needed for the Breakfast Negroni?

  • Bacon Infused Campari
  • Coffee Infused Sweet Vermouth
  • Beefeater Gin

Cocktail in gold rimmed rocks glass with bacon, beefeater bottle behind

How do You Fat Wash?

But enough science, how do we fat wash?  The fat washing process is really simple, adding liquid fat (example bacon grease) into the alcohol, giving it a shake and letting it sit for a while to get all the flavors happy.  Then put the whole mixture into the freezer or refrigerator for the fats to all float to the top and solidify. Strain out the solidified fat and you now have a fat washed spirit!

 

Now that you know how to fat wash, how did we use bacon in this Breakfast Negroni? First, we made bacon (by the way bacon made in an air fryer is the bomb!) and collected all the bacon drippings. Next, we added the bacon grease (and a piece of bacon for good measure) into a mason jar and covered the bacon and bacon grease with Campari.

 

Then, we let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, occasionally giving it a shake to help mix. After about 8 hours, we popped the whole mix into the freezer till the next day. Once the bacon grease had all solidified, then we strained out the mixture. Boom, bacon infused Campari!

Cocktail in gold rimmed rocks glass with bacon, beefeater bottle behind

Campari Negroni

To make the Breakfast Negroni, we added equal parts gin, coffee infused sweet vermouth and bacon washed Campari to a mixing glass with ice.  When garnished with a piece of maple candied bacon, this cocktail became a super star! The bright herbal and citrus notes of the gin, the dark sweetness of the coffee infused vermouth and the salty smokey bitterness from the Campari all combine together to make a Campari Negroni that might just work for any meal!

 

Cheers!

 

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Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

The Vampire Cynar Negroni combines Reposado Dry Gin, Cynar, and strawberry infused Campari to make this cocktail, perfect for a Halloween party, especially when served with a dry ice chip to make a rolling fog from the cocktail!Vampire Cynar Negroni

 

A new take on the classic negroni cocktail. the Concord Negroni Flip uses concord grape syrup, cream, gin, Campari and sweet vermouth to make a real summer sipper.Concord Negroni Flip

 

Other Negroni Recipes

Negroni in gold rimmed cocktail glass, bacon garnish
Yield: 1

How To Make A Negroni - Breakfast Negroni

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Mixing Time: 1 minute
Infusion Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 19 minutes

Ingredients

Bacon Infused Campari

  • 2 Strips of Bacon
  • 6 ounces Campari Liqueur

Coffee Infused Sweet Vermouth

  • 6 ounces sweet vermouth
  • 1.5 ounce Coffee beans

Breakfast Negroni

  • 1 ounce Bacon Infused Campari
  • 1 ounce Coffee Infused Sweet Vermouth
  • 1 ounce London Dry Gin
  • 1 strip of candied bacon, for garnish

Instructions

  1. 8 hours before you are ready to make the cocktail, prep the 2 infusions.
  2. Combine the coffee beans and sweet vermouth in a jar and let steep. Combine the bacon strips and Campari in a jar and place into the freezer.
  3. After 8 hours pull jar of Campari out of freezer and scrape off the fats that have come to the top of the jar, as well as take out the bacon strips.
  4. Combine Campari, sweet vermouth and gin in a mixing glass with ice.
  5. Stir to chill and then strain into glass with ice.
  6. Garnish with candied bacon.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 288Total Fat: 7.9gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 439mgCarbohydrates: 9.1gProtein: 7g

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