The Drunk Uncle for Negroni Week

Today The Drunkard’s Almanac brings Negroni Week to a close with a grand finale of sorts.  We’ll mix the Drunk Uncle, which does not share any ingredients with the Negroni.  Whether you think of this week as Mr. Potato Head run amok, an addition to your cocktail recipe armament, or simply a bad influence on your well being is entirely up to you.

We’ve been light on history this week, so we could take a moment to note that today is the anniversary of the 1977 admission of Vietnam to the United Nations, the 1878 birthday of Upton Sinclair or the 1973 death of Jim Croce.  But none of those will have any real connection to today’s drink, so we’ll stop there.

Today we push the ingredient substitution theory to its natural conclusion and make a Negroni variation which shares no spirituous ingredients whatsoever with the original recipe.  Even if it does contain a vermouth.

That’s why the Drink of the Day is the Drunk Uncle cocktail.  Let’s face it, maybe you had an odd, gout-ridden drunk uncle.  You might be one yourself, but you know you secretly wish you fit one of those profiles.  Not to be sexist, your correspondent searched for a Drunk Aunt cocktail, but there is none to be found.  There is a cocktail known as the Aunt Roberta cocktail but our Editorial Board is hesitant to recommend it.  First, it’s not a Negroni variation.  Second, it’s less a cocktail than a recipe for a very bad following day.  It’s a questionable mix of brandy, vodka, absinthe, gin and blackberry liqueur.  We’ll leave that for another time.

The Drunk Uncle is credited to Shawn Soole of Clive’s Classic Cocktail Lounge in Victoria, British Columbia.  Shawn is originally from Australia but ultimately settled in BC where he became famous as a bartender and ultimately became an industry consultant, founding Soole Hospitality Concepts.

But onward to the mixing.  This one is dead simple, using ordinary household supplies in the magic 2:1:1 ratio you should by now know by heart.

Drunk Uncle

The Drunk Uncle we’re considering here is credited to Shawn Soole of Clive’s Classic Cocktail Lounge in Victoria, British Columbia. Shawn is originally from Australia but ultimately settled in BC where he became famous behind the stick (that means as a bartender for you drunkards in training) and ultimately became an industry consultant, founding Soole Hospitality Concepts. But onward to the mixing. This one is dead simple, using ordinary household supplies in the magic 2:1:1 ratio you should by now know by heart.

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Equipment

• Mixing glass
• Nick and Nora or coupe glass

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1½ oz Islay Scotch like Bowmore or Laphroaig, you want something with a lot of peat
• ¾ oz Bianco Vermouth
• ¾ oz Cynar
• Garnish: grapefruit twist

Instructions

 

• Add all ingredients to your trusty mixing glass.
• Add ice and stir to chill.
• Strain into chilled coupe.
• Garnish with grapefruit twist.
• Drink.