Negroni Variations: 8 Riffs I Actually Make, From Sbagliato to a Coffee Negroni
| September 7, 2026
The Negroni is three bottles in equal parts, and that is exactly why it has so many children. Change one bottle and you have a new drink with the same bones. I have been making Negroni riffs on my channel since 2021, and every one below is something I have actually built, poured, and put on camera. Most have their own recipe page. The rest are here in full.
If you only know the classic, start there. The original Negroni recipe is 1 oz each of gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth, stirred and poured over ice with an orange peel, and it has not needed improving since 1919. Everything else on this page is a departure from it.
Are there different types of Negronis?
Yes, and they form a family tree. The Americano came first, in the 1860s, when Gaspare Campari mixed his bitter with sweet vermouth in Milan and later lengthened it with soda. The Negroni arrived in Florence in 1919 when Count Camillo Negroni asked for gin in his Americano instead of the soda. Paris took it from there: Harry MacElhone's 1927 book has the Old Pal, with rye in for the gin and dry vermouth in for the sweet. Milan added the Sbagliato in 1972, when Mirko Stocchetto at Bar Basso reached for gin and grabbed sparkling wine. The White Negroni is the youngest classic, from 2001, when Wayne Collins ran out of Campari and sweet vermouth at a wine fair in Bordeaux and built one from Suze and Lillet.
Every riff below hangs off one of those branches.
The ones without gin
Negroni Sbagliato
Sbagliato means mistaken, and the mistake was a good one. Campari and sweet vermouth over ice, topped with prosecco instead of gin. It is lower proof, a little sweeter, and the drink that briefly took over TikTok in 2022.
- 1 oz / 30 ml Campari
- 1 oz / 30 ml sweet vermouth
- Prosecco, to top
- Orange slice, for garnish
Build in a rocks glass over ice, top with prosecco, stir once.
Old Pal
Rye for the gin and dry vermouth for the sweet. It is the Negroni's drier, sharper cousin, and it belongs up in a coupe or a martini glass with a lemon twist rather than over ice. MacElhone credited it to a sportswriter named Sparrow Robertson who called everyone "old pal." Equal parts, 1 oz each. Full recipe and video: the Old Pal.
- 1 oz / 30 ml rye
- 1 oz / 30 ml dry vermouth
- 1 oz / 30 ml Campari
Stir with ice, strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass, lemon twist.
The ones without Campari
Purple Negroni
A White Negroni that comes out purple. Luxardo Bitter Bianco, a clear Italian bitter, takes Campari's spot, dry vermouth takes the sweet vermouth's, and the gin is Empress 1908, which is distilled with butterfly pea blossom and pours indigo. The dry vermouth is just acidic enough to push it toward purple. Equal parts at 0.75 oz each makes a short aperitivo; go to 1 oz for a full drink. Full recipe: the Purple Negroni.
- 0.75 oz / 22 ml Empress 1908 gin
- 0.75 oz / 22 ml Luxardo Bitter Bianco
- 0.75 oz / 22 ml dry vermouth
Stir with ice, strain over ice in a rocks glass, lemon peel.
Lamborgotti Fasterossa
The same Bitter Bianco base, tilted toward the gin and lengthened with orange soda. It lands between a White Negroni and a Sbagliato, and it is named after the Italian sports car Homer Simpson wrecks twice in "The Italian Bob." I topped mine with Duff orange soda because the joke demanded it. Aranciata works if you want to be an adult about it. Full recipe: the Lamborgotti Fasterossa.
- 1.5 oz / 45 ml gin
- 1 oz / 30 ml Luxardo Bitter Bianco
- 0.5 oz / 15 ml dry vermouth
- Orange soda, to top
Build in a tall glass over ice, top with soda, garnish with orange wheels.
Cereal Negroni
The same White Negroni skeleton with the gin swapped for Junction 35 Bam Bam, a vodka from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee that tastes like Fruity Pebbles. Bitter Bianco and dry vermouth do exactly what they do in the Purple Negroni, and the cereal rides on top. No Campari, no gin, still a Negroni by structure. Full recipe: the Cereal Negroni, which came out of my Junction 35 video alongside a Fruity Pebbles Pornstar Martini and a Cereal Milk Fizz. If you cannot find Bam Bam, Three Olives Loopy is the Froot Loops version of the same idea.
- 1 oz / 30 ml Junction 35 Bam Bam vodka
- 1 oz / 30 ml Luxardo Bitter Bianco
- 1 oz / 30 ml dry vermouth
Stir with ice and strain over ice. A few Fruity Pebbles stuck to the inside of the glass is the garnish.
THC Negroni Sbagliato
Artet, a cannabis aperitif with a Campari-like bitter backbone, goes in for the Campari, an ounce of real sweet vermouth keeps it honest, and non-alcoholic sparkling rosé goes on top. About 3mg of THC in a 2 oz pour of the Flagship strength, and the lowest-proof drink on this page that still has a little wine in it. I built it for a Negroni riff challenge and named it after Carrie Nation, the hatchet-swinging temperance crusader. Code 15OFF takes 15% off at Artet. Full recipe: the THC Negroni Sbagliato.
- 2 oz / 60 ml Artet, Flagship strength
- 1 oz / 30 ml sweet vermouth
- Non-alcoholic sparkling rosé, to top
Build in a rocks glass over ice, stir, top with the rosé, orange twist.
The one that goes somewhere new
Coffee Negroni
Gin and Campari stay. Mr Black, an Australian cold brew coffee liqueur with about half the sugar of the old-school ones, takes most of the vermouth's job, and a half ounce of sweet vermouth rounds the edges. Serve it over one big piece of ice from a clear ice ball maker so it stays cold without watering down. Full recipe: the Coffee Negroni.
- 1 oz / 30 ml gin
- 0.75 oz / 22 ml Campari
- 1 oz / 30 ml Mr Black cold brew coffee liqueur
- 0.5 oz / 15 ml sweet vermouth
Stir with ice, strain over a large ice sphere, orange peel.
If you have the Campari out anyway, the Bitter Mai Tai is where it goes next: Campari in the lead of a tiki drink, Jeremy Oertel's 2011 riff from Dram in Brooklyn. Not a Negroni, but the same bottle.
The one with no alcohol
Phony Negroni
St. Agrestis bottles a non-alcoholic Negroni called the Phony Negroni, and it is the one I hand people who want the bitter aperitivo hit without the proof. I tried it for Dry January and said so on camera. Pour it over one big cube with a slice of blood orange and it does the job.
What did Anthony Bourdain say about Negronis?
He called it a "perfect drink" in a 2016 interview, and in the same breath warned that it is a grown-up drink whose first sip is confusing and not especially pleasant before it grows on you. That is as fair a description of a Negroni as anyone has written. It is also why the Sbagliato and the White Negroni exist: they are the on-ramps.
What pairs well with a Negroni?
If the question is what mixes well with a Negroni, the answer is not much, and that is the point. The two things that do are already drinks on this page: soda water lengthens it back toward an Americano, and prosecco in place of the gin makes it a Sbagliato. Leave the juice and the tonic for the gin.
If the question is food, the answer is salt and fat. The Negroni is an aperitivo, built to be drunk before dinner with something to nibble, and the Italian answer is olives, potato chips, cured meat, and hard cheese. Anything sweet fights the Campari. If you are pouring Negronis for a crowd, put out a bowl of good chips and stop there.
Gear for a Negroni night
Every stirred drink on this page needs the same short kit, and none of it is expensive. A mixing glass and a bar spoon for the stirring, a Japanese-style jigger so equal parts stay equal, a strainer that fits the glass, and a channel knife for the long orange peel that makes a Negroni look like a Negroni. If you want the Old Pal up instead of over ice, a set of coupes does it.
Negroni Week
Negroni Week runs September 21 through 27, 2026. Imbibe magazine started it in 2013 with Campari behind it, bars sign up to serve Negronis and give part of the take to charity, and it has raised more than $5 million so far. This year the money goes to Slow Food. Find a bar that is in on it at negroniweek.com, and if you are drinking at home, every riff on this page is on my Negroni playlist.
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