It's Dried Fig Negroni Season, My Friends

Let's get Mediterranean

I didn’t think I needed Matt Hranek’s book The Negroni: A Love Affair With a Classic Cocktail when it came out. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about the cocktail and I could drink my Campari, vermouth, and either gin or mescal in peace without complicating matters. But, then again, I usually learn something whenever I read Hranek, so I figured it was worth at least keeping a copy near my booze cabinet…just in case.

I hadn’t thought much of the book until I picked it up last year while I was making way for the baby’s takeover of our living room bookshelf and started looking through it. It’s a nice little book that shows there’s much more than the couple of variations you’ll find at your local bar that has an impressive variety of bitter liqueurs on the shelf, but one thing caught my eye as a possible project for the next year’s Negroni season: the barrel-aged Negroni with dried figs.

Hranek found the cocktail at a Greek spot called Thalami, “an oasis of a bar on the island of Patmos.” You take the normal 1 part vermouth, one part gin, and one part Campari, put it into a bottle with a handful of dried figs, seal it up tight for a few days, then serve it over ice with a slice of orange. Simple. The whole “barrel-aged” thing usually trips people up because they seem to think it’s going to be a very involved process or they need an actual barrel (I mean, you could use it if you have one…), but the name of the Negroni game should always be simplicity.

I made a bottle, and it was delicious. The figs add a nuttiness that I’m not used to with the bitter, herbaceous cocktail, but it also made it easier to slow down and enjoy the drink because it was something different, and that fits perfectly into my plans. I’m really into this whole idea of having a chill summer. It sounds crazy, right? Like what a revolutionary idea! But between having a newborn last year, and a book tour coming up in the fall, Emily and I decided to try and stay as close to home as possible, with Montreal or the woods of Maine the furthest we’re looking to go. I just want to try and sit around and enjoy cocktails that I can drink slowly, so I think Thalami’s fig Negroni will be in regular rotation over the next few months since it’s perfect for just that.