Negroni

During the really hot spell last week, I made the happy discovery that a Negroni, one of the few European cocktails to get any traction here, is a very refreshing summer drink. I've always liked them and when I had one in the midst of the stifling 100-degree weather, it tasted particularly good.

A Negroni is one-third gin, one-third Campari, and one-third sweet vermouth, with an optional splash of soda and a lemon twist or orange slice as garnish. I always add the soda, and in the summer would consider it obligatory. To me, it tastes fine without the twist. The bitter Campari flavor predominates, softened by the vermouth and the gin, of course, gives it a nice little kick.

The Negroni is attributed to Count Camillo Negroni, who asked a Florence bartender to add gin to his Americano, a cocktail with just the other three ingredients. I don't know why one would ever drink an Americano now without the gin.

The first summer I went to Europe, I discovered that Martini refers to vermouth as an apperitif and not to the cocktail. Vermouth, a flavored, fortified wine, is used exclusively as a mixer here, but is typical of the European-style apperitifs, which have double the alcoholic content of wine but half of that in whiskey or other distilled spirits.

I learned to order Martini "rouge" for sweet, and "blanc" for dry, and "rouge et blanc" for a mix, which turned out to be my favorite. And you order a "Martini cocktail" if you want our mix of gin and dry vermouth.

Campari is a "bitter" so beloved of the Europeans, consisting of alcohol infused with a secret mix of herbs and colored an unhealthy shade of chemical red. It is usually served with soda or orange juice and quite refreshing in its own right, once you've acquired the taste for it.

Mediterranean countries prefer the anisette drinks on hot late afternoons -- pastis in France, ouzo in Greece, raki in Turkey. With a couple of ice cubes and an occasional splash of water to dilute it, you can stretch out a glass of pastis for quite a while. It is not so much refreshing, as soothing in the heat, giving you a pleasant little buzz that makes the heat seem kind of nice.

Here of course we like our gin, rum and vodka with tonic, or the almighty margarita in the summer, or other citrusy Latin drinks like mojito or caparinha. A pastis is not to everyone's taste, nor probably is Campari. But venturesome drinkers might keep these European apperitifs in mind as nice summer alternatives.