How to Make a Negroni Cocktail Twist

The Remember the Alimony is a graduate-level Negroni. It’s a Negroni that went back to school to get its PhD. It is identifiably in the style of the Italian classic, but takes the Negroni’s most insular measures—the bitterness, the esoteric flavors—and increases all of them. 

The cocktail comes to us from 2012 New York City, from bartender Dan Greenbaum and the bar he co-owned at the time called the Beagle. The Beagle was a classic cocktail bar that had a particular focus on sherry, which is not the kind of thing you just stumble into; in his short career before then, Greenbaum had worked under some greats, first restauranteur Matthew Piacentini and then cocktail-Yoda Sasha Petraske, and quickly grew a taste for the depth and complexity that sherry can bring. He’d been to Jerez (Sherry’s namesake town, in Spain) several times and shaped the Beagle around it, becoming, in the words of his then-head bartender Tom Richter, “a savant” at sherry cocktails. This affection was paired with a minimalist instinct that one sees from almost everyone who fell into Petraske’s orbit, which was, as Greenbaum said at the time, to “create something interesting with as few ingredients as possible.”

Smash those two ideas together, and you get the Remember the Alimony. The basic logic of the drink is, as mentioned, Negroni-like, but more esoteric on a number of fronts. Both drinks start with gin, but while the Negroni uses Campari’s bright bitter orange for its trademark bitterness, the Remember the Alimony uses the broodier Cynar, similarly bitter but at a lower and more vegetal hum, flavored with, among other things, artichokes. Next, while the Negroni calls upon the voluptuous fruit, herbs, and (sometimes) vanilla from sweet vermouth, the Remember the Alimony uses the far more austere fino sherry, nutty and bone dry, as its fortified wine component. And finally, while the Negroni finds balance in equal parts of the three ingredients, the Remember the Alimony increases the measure of the more challenging ones (both the sherry and bitter components) by nearly 2:1.

What all those choices yield is a Negroni variation that’s notable in two ways. First is its almost academic character, and while I wouldn’t call it more challenging than, say, the Autumn Negroni or the Kingston Negroni, it is more erudite than either of those, more cultivated and specific. It is sharper without as much cushioning fruit and spice, and is less inclined to meet the drinker halfway—you have to have already done the required reading to even join this conversation, and as such, I flatly would not recommend it for a guest that didn’t already love Negronis. The second way that it’s notable is that it is extraordinary. The world is full of delicious Negroni variations, but few and far between are the ones that work as harmoniously as this. The sherry and Cynar lock into each other so tightly it’s impossible to see where one ends and another begins, and the gin provides the essential infrastructure, yielding a cocktail that is round, caramely, and outstanding. The finish is uncommonly bitter—a heaping tablespoon of Cynar’s earth is shaded (though in no way softened) by the sherry’s dry nutty finish—but if you like bitter things, it’s just more to the good.

As for the name: It was part of a little series of breakup-themed drinks (Second Marriage, Haitian Divorce, etc) and is a thoroughly mediocre pun, and my vote for why the drink isn’t better known. Perhaps the bitterness refers to the alimony check? It’s hard to say. What is clear is that the Remember the Alimony deserves to be remembered, over and over again.

Remember the Alimony

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir for 10 seconds (if using small ice) to 25 seconds (if using big ice) and strain over a big cube in a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with an orange peel, expressed over the top.

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS

Gin: I believe Greenbaum called for Beefeater by name, so I have to acknowledge that. When he said that, Beefeater was a 47 percent alcohol product and was exceptional as such, and since then, the dirty rotten scoundrels who produce it have attenuated it, first to 44 percent and now down to 40 percent, which, as you can see, I’m still upset about. That said, it still makes a good Remember the Alimony, though in fairness I didn’t have a gin I didn’t like this with. Use whatever you’ve got.

See Also

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Sherry: The sherry needs to be manzanilla or fino, which is a difference in kind to the more oxidative types of sherry, like Amontillado, Oloroso, Palo Cortado, or the very sweet Pedro Ximénez. If you don’t have manzanilla or fino but do have one of these other types, you cannot make this drink. The one substitution that works pretty well, though, is dry vermouth—it’s like-for-like in terms of sweetness and lightness, and a Remember the Alimony with dry vermouth makes a delightfully spiced (though not superior) version of the cocktail.