Cardinale Cocktail Recipe
A Negroni with dry vermouth in place of sweet: leaner, drier, and more bitter for it.
- Category: Contemporary Classics
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 24%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Gin30 ml (1 oz)
- Campari30 ml (1 oz)
- Dry vermouth30 ml (1 oz)
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir until well chilled.
- Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
- Express orange zest over the surface.
Garnish
Orange zest
What it tastes like
It has a bitter backbone and the spirit is right out front.
The technique
Stirring. All-spirit drinks are stirred — shaking whips air into them and ruins both the clarity and the texture. Thirty to forty seconds in a mixing glass, the spoon tracing the wall. You are after the same ~20% dilution, just slower and under control.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Gin
- London dry gin: juniper up front, citrus and coriander behind it. Brand really does show here — Beefeater is sharp, Hendrick's floral, Tanqueray juniper-heavy.
- Campari
- The red Italian bitter, with a bitterness that is unmistakable. Aperol can replace it, but Aperol is half the strength and clearly sweeter, so the drink comes out softer.
- Dry vermouth
- Dry white vermouth. Same rule as the sweet one: fridge, one month. When someone asks how dry a martini should be, this is the ingredient they are talking about.
The Story
Poured in Rome in the 1950s, reputedly for a cardinal who found the standard Negroni too sweet.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Cardinale mixed?
- It is stirred and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Cardinale?
- Roughly 24% ABV as served — in fortified-wine territory — plan it as a single drink.
- Can a Cardinale be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Cardinale hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.