FYI: This is an archive of my Tonight's Negroni email newsletter.
Have you seen Matt Buchanan's "Death to Negronis" post on The Awl?
You should.
While you can draw direct examples of the things his douchebag hipster Negroni lovers would say from this very newsletter, I'm not too stung by it. For the most part it feels like blowhard anti-hipsterism, making fun of people because they actually have opinions about vermouth. At the same time, it's also got its own version of a hipster vibe: hating on a drink because it's too popular and attributing that popularity to The Man (Campari in this case). In the end though, the most salient point seems to be this:
Just don't tell anybody about it.
He's just tired of hearing about it.
It's like so many things that cause people profess exasperation due to exposure fatigue: fitness routines (think CrossFit, Bikram Yoga, Zumba, etc.), diets (Atkins, Paleo, Vegan, and so forth), and further afield to all sorts of subjects from cars to child rearing. When groups of people within a culture get excited about something they talk about. Other people in the culture who do notparticipate in these activities grow weary of all the talk. It's a pattern that repeats throughout time and has only gotten more prevalent with the freely available real-time communication methods offered by the internet.
Sadly for Matt, it's not a thing that's going to end. There will always be something he is tired of hearing about. It's really up to him to curate his life and moderate his own reactions (if he cares to). Or he can sleep well knowing he will always have something to rant about. Either way.
For me, I found it interesting as a dovetail to last week when I was concerned about "negroni" being diluted into a category name. That concern was also a reaction to the overexposure the Negroni seems to be experiencing, though hopefully with a slightly more positive spin. (Hopefully...?)
I still love a Negroni. I also still love a gin & tonic. And a Manhattan. Right on down the line.
I love the entire world of cocktails and have just happened to hang my weird little newsletter shingle on the name of a drink that is getting a ton of love at this moment. (I swear this is accidental, or at least subliminal!) So it goes.
Ultimately, we shouldn't fault somebody for liking what they like. It's their choice based on their experiences of the world. They may change their mind given more experience, but as of their current state, that's the thing they like and it's really not ours to judge.
In our age of snark, this is sometimes a hard lesson, but I believe it's true and makes for a better life if you can adopt it.
Daiquiri No. 3
This recipe is from my latest cocktail book purchase, Jeffrey Morganthaller's The Bar Book. I've only just begun to read it, but it's making quite the impression already. If you are in any way the "Stay at Home Bartender" type, you should get this book.
- 2oz White rum
- ½oz Rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar:water)
- ½oz Fresh lime juice (probably half a lime)
- ¼oz Grapefruit juice
- 1tsp Maraschino ligueur (Luxardo or Leopold's)
- Shake with ice.
- Strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice.
- Garnish with lime wedge.
- Serve with a straw.
Here's to the summer cocktail season!