A Shake-up in Cocktail Circles

The old fashioned is officially…well, old fashioned. 

Last month, Drinks International dropped a veritable bombshell: After eight years, the old fashioned has been deposed as the best-selling cocktail in the world. The kingslayer? The Negroni. For the uninitiated, the classic is typically made with equal parts Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth and boasts a ruby red color and appealing bitterness on the palate. It’s a sophisticated sipper and the perfect antidote to overly sweet drinks that go down in one gulp (and add up way too quickly on your tab).  

We asked Kendra Anderson, owner of Denver’s late, great Negroni bar, Bar Helix, about her reaction to the news. She was unsurprised, but gratified. “I remain #TeamNegroni, so it is thrilling to see that the rest of the world (according to this source, anyway!) is in agreement,” she says. “I fell in love with the Negroni for a few reasons. As a sommelier, I was thrilled to see vermouth (an aromatized wine) so prominently featured in a cocktail. I also love bitter flavors, so Campari is a favorite. Lastly, the fact that the recipe is so simple—three ingredients, equal parts—yet the resulting cocktail is so complex just blew me away. In my mind, it really is the world’s most perfect cocktail.”

Check out the rest of the list here for news on how your favorite cocktails—from the aviation to the zombie—fared. 

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