holiday negroni

What is a holiday, really, without a fancy beverage in hand? This Thanksgiving, treat yourself to the Holiday Negroni, aka a sparkling Negroni-inspired cocktail made with amber rum and sparkling wine. It comes together in just five minutes and is so yummy, it might disappear just as fast. Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving week, my Internet friends! I’m coming in hot with a last-minute drink recipe for your holiday festivities, whatever they may be this year. This pretty lil’ number of a cocktail is guaranteed to lift your spirits with all of its sparkle and flavor. Like a classic Negroni, this recipe features Campari and sweet vermouth — but unlike a classic Negroni, we’re swapping the gin for rum and topping everything off with a generous glug of sparkling wine because it’s 2020 and we deserve it.

What is a Holiday Negroni?

The Negroni is, hands-down, one of my favorite drinks of all time. It’s so easy to prepare — just a 1:1:1 ratio of gin to Campari (a bright-red, bitter liqueur) to sweet vermouth — and it all goes down reaallll smooth. I like to drink it in the summer and in the winter, or mix things up and drink a Boulevardier instead. There’s never an occasion when a Negroni isn’t totally appropriate as an alcoholic drink of choice.

As for this Holiday Negroni cocktail, though I’ve dubbed it a “holiday” drink, there is also no occasion in which I can’t see this drink being the perfect adult bev. It’s bitter and bright just like the classic Negroni, but the amber rum gives it an extra note of sweetness and depth of flavor. The sparkling wine topper lends its delightful bubbles to the drink, but it also mellows out the harshness of the Campari. Garnished with a citrus twist, it’s exactly what we need to accompany our holiday season this year.

The Best Ingredients for a Holiday Negroni

There’s nothing out-of-reach or high-falutin’ about the ingredients needed for this sparkling Negroni recipe — in fact, if you’ve got even a fairly well-stocked bar at home, you might already have everything you need! If not, here’s the simple list of ingredients (and my favorite brands to use):

• Amber or gold rum — I used Doorly’s 12-Year-Old Rum (because that’s what we had on hand), but Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum is also a good bet!
• Campari — aka an Italian bitter aperitif that is a hallmark ingredient of a Negroni cocktail.
• Sweet vermouth — a sweet fortified wine that is often used in cocktails (my favorite is Cocchi Vermouth Di Torino for its complexity of flavor!).
• Sparkling white wine — I highly recommend a dry Prosecco (such as La Marca), but any sparkling white wine will do.

How to Make a Sparkling Negroni Cocktail

Even if you’re not an at-home bartender or a cocktail master, you can make this drink. It’s truly one of the easiest cocktails you can prepare in your own home — no fancy premade mixes, elixirs, infusions or syrups necessary! Here’s how:

• Step One: In a mixing glass with ice, stir together 3/4 ounce to 1 ounce amber/gold rum, 1/2 ounce Campari and 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
• Step Two: Strain the mixture into a rocks glass filled with ice. Top off with 3 ounces sparkling white wine.
• Step Three: Garnish with an orange twist and a couple of cranberries. Enjoy.

Quick Tips for Making This Cocktail At Home

You really can’t go wrong when making this cocktail at home because 1) it’s so easy to make, and 2) you can adjust the amounts to suit your tastes and preferences. That said, let’s cover a few more bonus tips so you can get to sipping your best holiday cocktail:

• Chill the sparkling wine before adding it to the cocktail. You want everything to be nice and cold for maximum enjoyment!
• Put your rocks glass in the freezer while you prep the cocktail. My husband and I do this all the time when we make drinks — as we prep them, we stick the glasses in the freezer for a quick chill so that, when we add the drink to the glass, the glass itself doesn’t warm up the drink. Plus, it just feels fancy.
• Not a fan of rum? Use gin instead to make this drink even more akin to the classic Negroni.
• To keep the drink from getting too watered-down, use round/sphere ice cube molds — we use these at home and love them for keeping drinks cold but not diluted!

I hope that, no matter how you’re spending your holidays this year, you can still find ways to enjoy yourself and those you love, near or far. Am I suggesting a holiday cocktail hour via Zoom with these Holiday Negronis in hand? Yes, yes I am.

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More Cocktail Recipes:

• Harvest Apple Ginger Smash
• Cranberry Old-Fashioned Cocktail
• Watermelon Mojitos
• Cherry Sake Cocktails