The “mistaken” Negroni was no mistake.
(Bloomberg) — The Negroni sbagliato has taken the internet by storm over the past several weeks, after the prosecco drink received a plug by two actors from House of the Dragon and became a sensation on TikTok.
But as with many viral trends, content farms are so busy regurgitating the same story based on a kernel of information that a misconception ends up broadcasted far and wide.
Of course, that’s perhaps fitting here: Sbagliato means “mistaken,” “false” or “wrong” in Italian. The now-legend has it that the drink was created by mere happenstance, when, a few decades ago a bartender at Milan’s Bar Basso making a Negroni grabbed a bottle of prosecco instead of a bottle of gin. Voilà, the drink was so good it stuck around for eternity. Doesn’t sound too likely, does it?
What is the Negroni sbagliato, and why is it famous now?
The Negroni sbagliato is a riff on the classic Negroni, which incorporates equal measures of Campari, sweet vermouth and gin. In the sbagliato, a pour of prosecco replaces the gin, making for an effervescent, lighter take on the sultry original. The riff came into existence at Bar Basso in the early 1970s; it was logical place to be making Negronis and experimenting with them, as Campari itself is based in Milan and owns a large share of the hearts and minds (and livers) of its resident imbibers.
The drink became a sensation when House of the Dragon co-stars Emma D’Arcy, who portrays Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Olivia Cooke, who portrays Alicent Hightower, discussed their favorite drinks in a clip that’s received 1.8 million likes and more than 100,000 shares on TikTok and generated tens of millions of views across the internet. D’Arcy reveals their drink of choice—a “Negroni … sbagliato … with prosecco in it”—and Cooke “oohs” in delight at the drink’s description. “Oh, stunning,” she says.
The clip has spurred countless reshares, hot takes and stories, and almost all of them are wrong.
Why the internet seems to be getting the Negroni sbagliato wrong
The truth is that the Negroni sbagliato was no mistake at all. It was very much created on purpose by Bar Basso’s owner, Mirko Stocchetto. How do I know? I asked his son Maurizio Stocchetto, the bar’s current proprietor. We had a lengthy chat on the subject—this was in 2017, well ahead of the TikTok trend or TikTok for that matter—at one of the bar’s outdoor tables, as I sipped on one of its signature enormous Negroni sbagliatos.
Mirko purchased Bar Basso in 1967, and it’s been in the family for more than five decades now. He had a passion for cocktails and experimenting with drinks as he attempted to lure in customers. “In order to get people’s attention,” Maurizio says. “The cocktail is really an American institution. The Milanese refused to drink them.”
But Mirko was an innovator, and within a few years, Bar Basso had become a go-to spot in Milan for cocktails. “In the early ’70s, this place became a place to be,” Maurizio says. The Negroni sbagliato, which came into existence during those years, helped to fuel the bar’s rise.
“It’s just a story,” Maurizio admits. “He was experimenting with many drinks.”
In this case, the delightful, invigorating concoction was paired with a perfect “tongue-in-cheek” descriptor. “The name was very catchy,” Maurizio says. His father, who’d made countless Negronis, would never have made such a blatant error as mistaking a bottle of prosecco for a bottle of gin and would never have doubled down on his mistake by then serving it to a customer who hadn’t asked for it. No, the drink was an intentional, well-named creation.
Ironically, Mirko wasn’t even a fan of his famed creation, but the drink helped to put his bar on the map and helped to make the place a Milan institution. “And he hated it,” Maurizio says. His father preferred the potent, bracing strength of a proper traditional Negroni. Maurizio compares his father’s preferences to those of a heavy smoker being forced to smoke light cigarettes; the Negroni sbagliato didn’t have the same effect or the usual oomph behind it. It just wouldn’t do for him.
Make yourself a Negroni sbagliato
To make a Negroni sbagliato, take an equal portion of Campari and sweet vermouth, 1 or 1.5 ounces of each, and pour over ice. Give the drink a quick stir, top with prosecco, and garnish with an expressed orange peel, and you’re good to go.
Even better, take a trip to Milan and visit Bar Basso for yourself. When you order a Negroni sbagliato, you’ll receive a drink so large in a vessel of such fantastical size that it’s almost difficult to hold with one hand. It seems more like a cartoon prop than an actual libation, but rest assured, it is. Be sure to head to the bar in the predinner aperitivo hours, a nightly ritual that is the city’s specialty. While much of Europe may partake in the aperitivo, nowhere else is it as prized and wonderful as it is in Milan. When you order a drink, you’ll receive an assortment of complimentary snacks alongside it: potato chips, olives, focaccia bread, and mini open-faced sandwiches, at the least.
If you’re thirsty for more, you can visit some of Campari’s famed haunts in Milan. There’s the Camparino in Galleria, an official Campari bar with a prime position in the ornate Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The setting and the people watching are both spectacular. Campari even has its own museum in Milan, the Galleria Campari. You can book a tour to take in exhibits loaded with eye-catching contemporary Campari artwork, vintage advertisements and bottles, and plenty of lore.
When you return from your trip to Milan, you’ll have all of the firsthand Campari and Negroni knowledge that you need, including the fact that the mistaken Negroni was not a mistake after all.
(Adds shares numbers on TikTok in fifth paragraph. Previous versions corrected pronoun for Emma D’Arcy in the fifth paragraph and spelling of sbagliato in headline.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
