Five Ways to Get Your Cocktail Fix This Negroni Week in Melbourne
Celebrate 100 years of the drink with magnums, fermented cocktails and prices controlled by how cold it is outside.
Five Ways to Get Your Cocktail Fix This Negroni Week in Melbourne
Celebrate 100 years of the drink with magnums, fermented cocktails and prices controlled by how cold it is outside.
Melbourne's love affair with the negroni may be a relatively new phenomenon, but the cocktail has actually been around for a full century. Legend has it that it originated in Florence's Cafe Casoni, when Count Camillo Negroni requested the concoction for the first time — that's one part gin, one part vermouth and one part Campari, garnished with an orange peel.
For the cocktail's 100th anniversary, Campari is doing up its annual Negroni Week celebrations in style and venues all over the city are once again getting involved. Apart from all the negronis, the week doubles as a huge fundraiser, with most participating venues donating proceeds to a charity of their choice.
It'll all go down from June 24–30, with some spots keeping the party going all month long. Here's our picks for the best ways to get your negroni fix this year. There's a Wes Anderson film night, a Four Pillars pop-up bar, magnums of negroni and a whole heap of specialty cocktails on offer — created by the best bartenders in the city, of course. And if you can't choose between them, our negroni finder will pick a place for you.
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In celebration of negroni week, Campari and The Everleigh are teaming up to present Sips On Screen: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. This Wes Anderson film will be paired with a cosy night of cocktails, pizza and popcorn, all at one of Fitzroy’s favourite bars. After grabbing a negroni on arrival courtesy, you’ll find it very easy to settle into The Everleigh’s Elk Room. During the screening, you’ll be able to sit back with popcorn, Connie’s Pizza and three negroni-inspired mini cocktails, with everything included in the ticket price.
Running from 6pm on Wednesday, June 26, the event doesn’t just mark the annual negroni week — which launched in 2013, and has become a feature at more than 10,000 participating venues worldwide, raising around $2 million for charities in the process. It also helps mark 100 years of the beloved beverage, with The Everleigh donating $5 from every ticket sold to Australian food rescue organisation Oz Harvest.
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CBD party bar Ferdydurke is prepping its loft for Negroni Week with a happy hour that’ll see the classic version priced depending on the day’s weather forecast. It’s a rare reason to hope this past weekend’s cold snap extends into next — if it’s 12 degrees outside, negronis will be $12. If it’s seven degrees, you’ll score one for $7 (and so on). So our fingers are crossed for some single-digit temperatures across Melbourne next week to make the most of it. The special offer will only be available from June 24–30 and from 4–6pm each day, so be sure to check the forecast ahead of time and head in on the more blustery days.
The bar will also serve up a full negroni menu that features booze from Never Never Distilling Co., Plantation Rum and Mancino Vermouth — but these are not part of the special temperature-based offering.
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Melbourne’s local gin heroes Four Pillars is getting in on the negroni week action by launching its signature pop-up stores around the country. In Melbourne, that pop-up will take place within the Garden State Hotel on Flinders Lane.
It’ll offer the gin brand’s new range of bottled negronis, which range from a spiced coffee version to a herbaceous number and one that uses Four Pillars’ famed Bloody Shiraz Gin. You can enjoy these batched cocktails at the bar, or purchase for takeaway, with a four pack also on offer. For the die hard cocktail fans, the custom built shop will also be selling Negroni t-shirts and Breakfast Negroni Marmalade for the duration of the event.
The pop-up bar will run throughout negroni week and the Four Pillars distillery will also be slinging these limited edition bottles — with $1 of every negroni sold at either bar going to OzHarvest.
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In typical style of owner, bartender and artist Matt Bax, Bar Americano is doing things a little differently. This Negroni Week, the cocktail bar has been working on a special fermented Negroni Sbagliato in anticipation for the 100 year Negroni celebration. It has been aged for months and uses Champagne in addition to gin, so will be served as a typical Champagne cocktail. The rare drop will be available for a limited time, and a portion of the profits will go to OzHarvest.
In addition to the special fermented Negroni Sbagiato you can still get your hands on the bar’s range of batched negroni (in 200ml and 500ml bottles) which will still make a contribution to the charity donation. Campari has also donated some Negroni pins for the event, with all the proceeds going directly to Oz Harvest. Bar Americano’s stand only venue has limited space, so get in early so you don’t miss out.
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St Kilda institution The Espy is going all out this negroni week — the venue is offering 1.5-litre magnums to the negroni loving masses. The special batched cocktail was made in American oak barrels, then treated with Tawny port for two months, aged for an additional four weeks and bottled onsite. As this negroni is very large (and very strong), the magnum bottles will only be served to a tables of eight or more — a great excuse to grab seven of your best mates and make a night of it.
As to be expected, the novelty doesn’t come cheap, and will set you back $280, though $60 of the cost will go to Sacred Heart Mission (a leading charity for the homeless). Individual serves of the stuff will also be available for $19, and five bucks of that will go to the same charity.
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