Milano-Torino Cocktail

Florence 1919, maybe 1920. In those years, Count Camillo Negroni used to be at the aristocratic Caffè Casoni. One day he wanted something a little bit stronger than his usual Americano. So he asked the barman Fosco Scarselli to add into the drink a little bit of Gin rather than soda, in memory of his recent trips to London.This new cocktail became “The usual” for the Count but soon this became for everybody else the “American aperitif Count Negroni-style’. In the Fifties the cocktails became very popular in Italy and, soon, also all over the world.alo Ian Fleming cited the Negroni Cocktail in one of the episode of his famous saga James Bond.

The origins of this cocktail go so far back that it's tough to trust anyone who says they created it. The original name was Whiskey Cocktail as it reflected the characteristics of the classic cocktail formula laid down in 1806; spirit, sugar, water and bitters The proliferation of new liqueurs available to bartenders from the 1870s resulted in a treadmill of new 'improved' Whiskey Cocktails... but which also led to a revolt amongst those who yearned for the original drink. Hence the Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail.