What Is a Negroni Sbagliato?
What is the Negroni Sbagliato, the Italian cocktail that has become a viral sensation after a celebrity Tik-Tok mention?
When things go viral on social media, there’s no stopping them. One Tik-Tok video with over two million likes now has everyone asking: What is a Negroni Sbagliato? But first, so you start off right, is that the ‘g’ in sbagliato is silent, so it’s pronounced spaliato.
So, What Is a Negroni Sbagliato?
The answer is short and simple. It’s a regular Negroni but using prosecco instead of gin. And that would be the end of the story if not for Tik-Tok.
In the fall of 2022 HBO Max posted a video on its Tik-Tok account featuring two of the actresses from House of the Dragon, their mega-successful prequel to Game of Thrones. The actresses were Emma D’Arcy (Princess Rhaenyra) and Olivia Cooke (Queen Alicent), and Darcy says to Cooke that her drink of choice is ‘a Negroni … Sbagliato … with Prosecco in it.’
History of the Negroni Sbagliato
And that was all it took. Soon everyone was asking what the heck is a Negroni Sbagliato. Till now it certainly wasn’t one of the best-known cocktails (outside Italy, at least) despite celebrating its 51st birthday in 2023. Like all cocktails – see my recent post about the Sidecar – it has different versions as to how it was created, but in this case they’re not wildly different.
Who Invented the Negroni Sbagliato?
One story is that the cocktail was first created in 1972 at Bar Basso, which remains one of Milan’s leading bars today. Bartender Mirko Stocchetto was said to have been making a regular Negroni when he absent-mindedly used prosecco instead of gin. Well, even the best bartenders can get distracted and make a basic mistake when doing one of the hundreds of recipes they carry around in their head.
Instead of throwing the cocktail out and starting over, once he’d realised his error, he tasted it and decided it wasn’t too bad. He called it his Negroni Sbagliato, which translates from the Italian as Mistaken Negroni.
However, Bar Basso’s current owner, Maurizio Stocchetto, maintains that while it was created in the bar, it was a deliberate creation and not a mistake. They wanted a cocktail that was lighter than a Negroni, but similar, to appeal to their women customers who, back then, didn’t generally like the strong Negroni.
It seems strange, though, that if you deliberately created an alternative to the Negroni that you would still use the word Negroni in the name, rather than come up with an original name. And why call it a Mistaken Negroni if it wasn’t made mistakenly?
I suppose either version could be true, but my money’s on a mistake on a busy night in the bar. And thanks to Tik-Tok, it seems that every night is now a busy night at Bar Basso.
How to Make a Negroni Sbagliato?
There are slight variations on the basic recipe, like using other sparkling wines, but as this is an Italian recipe and was created with prosecco, use prosecco. Don’t use champagne, or at least not real champagne, as its subtle flavours will get lost. Cheap fake ‘champagne’ should be OK too.
Ingredients
1.5 ounces sweet vermouth
1.5 ounces Campari
1.5 ounces Prosecco
Method
Put an orange slice and some ice cubes in a glass. Pour in the Campari, the vermouth, and finally the Prosecco. Stir gently. You can use a classic Negroni glass, a Martini glass, or a champagne flute. If you use one of the first two, you might want to keep the orange slice back and garnish with it at the end.
And now you know what a Negroni Sbagliato is – and how to pronounce it when you order one!
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