Groundhog’s Day Negroni

The Groundhog’s day negroni… started out as a negroni and is named so because I’ve been basically drinking a negroni-a-day while in quarantine. For the base, I started out with a healthy dose of rapid aged, ultra-funky Jamaican rum from our friends over at Unbound Spirits, then added sweet vermouth, and Martini & Rosso bitter (a Campari-alternative). The base on its own is a favorite of mine and very good on its own. However, to punch it up further, I added a heavy pour (1.5 oz) of the Asian-botanical heavy Nikka Coffey Gin (Coffey for the still and not to be mistaken for the gin actually having “coffee” flavors) and then a 0.25 oz of ginger syrup to add some spice and background sweetness.

For the unacquainted, Unbound Spirits is a stealth mode startup created by a team of chemical engineers who are trying to bring rapid aging to everyone with a device. As far as I know, their product is still not on the market. We gave them some Rum Fire to rapidly age, the white dog spirit from Hampden Estates, and the results so far are incredible. I would argue that it tastes better than our expensive bottle of Barrell “Tale of Two Islands”, which has a bit of a cult following because it’s very good.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Nikka Coffey Gin
• .75 oz Unbound Spirits, Rapid Aged Rum Fire (you can use an aged Hampden spirit)
• .75 oz Martini & Rossi Bitter (can substitute Campari)
• .75 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth
• .25 oz Ginger Syrup

Ginger syrup recipe (full details here) is a 2:1 ratio of sugar to fresh ginger juice.

Glass

Cocktail Glass

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice
• Stir and strain into cocktail glass