The perfect organic Negroni

I make no secrets about the fact that a Negroni cocktail, when done well, is delicious. I’ve had many from restaurants and bars that are just plain awful. But with Hastings Distillers new Rubis vermouth on the scene, I can say with confidence that your Negroni cocktail will be taken to a new level of style and sophistication. Buy!

C.

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Hastings Distillers’ Rubis vermouth makes the perfect organic Negroni

Highly concentrated, rich and ripe with red berry fruits, warm spice, bitter cacao and dried herb notes, the team at Hastings Distillers has created a delicious sweet vermouth that is just at home as a pre-dinner aperitif as it is an ingredient in a perfectly mixed Negroni. One sip, and it’s immediately a very different experience from the ubiquitous vermouths of the 1980s.

“We love Negroni, but were tired of using mass-produced vermouth that added nothing to the flavour profile,” says Hastings Distillers’ co-founder Kate Galloway, who makes Biogro™ certified gins and liqueurs with her partner David Ramonteu. “Our backgrounds in winemaking and distilling enabled us to combine both disciplines to create something unique that speaks of Hawke’s Bay.

“We start with an organic Cabernet Sauvignon from the renowned Gimblett Gravels region.  To that we add a selection of organic botanicals - bitter roots, bark, flowers and warm spice that has been steeped in pure organic alcohol.”

The word ‘vermouth’ is the French pronunciation of ‘wormwood’ from which the drink got its name.  “We grow our own wormwood,” says Kate, “and use a selection of savoury herbs such as thyme, rosemary, bay, warm spices - clove, cardamom and cassia - and flowering plants such as lavender and chamomile in our blend.”

Kate says vermouth is having its moment to shine, something she puts down to a resurgence of interest in botanical and herbal drinks. She says the Rubis is perfect sipped on its own with ice or a splash of soda, and that its low alcohol content (17%) makes it appealing, also, as a digestive.

“Its 'Christmas cake’ nose makes it well suited to desserts and chocolate, too. We use it in our Negroni at the Tasting Room in Hastings, and it’s also wonderful in an Americano or a Manhattan. The Martini, of course, uses dry vermouth – and we’re already looking forward to being able to mix a fully organic Martini once our dry vermouth, currently aging in the barrel, is released in 2022.”

To order your Rubis Vermouth, please visit the website: www.hastingsdistillers.com  

Rubis Vermouth: $55