Americano
Campari, sweet vermouth and soda. The aperitivo that taught Italy to drink before dinner, and the first drink James Bond ever ordered.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Fill a highball or rocks glass with ice.
Add the Campari and sweet vermouth and stir briefly to combine and chill.
Top with chilled soda water and stir once more, gently.
Garnish with an orange slice.
A thoughtful finish
- Equal parts is the whole recipe — do not reach for a jigger ratio you half-remember from a Negroni.
- The soda is an ingredient, not a filler. Use a fresh, aggressively carbonated bottle and open it for this drink.
- Build it in the glass. There is nothing here that needs a shaker or a mixing glass.
Common mistakes
- Treating it as a Negroni with soda instead of gin. The Americano is a low-strength aperitivo in its own right, not a diluted Negroni.
- Flat soda, which leaves the drink syrupy and heavy.
- Over-topping. Two ounces of soda lengthens it; five drowns the vermouth entirely.
A few good questions.
Is an Americano the same as a Negroni?
No, though they are close relatives. Replace the soda with an equal measure of gin and you have a Negroni — a drink roughly three times as strong. The Americano is built for drinking before a meal over an hour; the Negroni is not.
What is the Milano-Torino?
The same drink without the soda — just Campari and sweet vermouth over ice. It is the Americano's direct ancestor and still a very good short drink.
Which vermouth should I use?
A good Italian sweet vermouth with some bitterness of its own. Because there are only two spirits here and neither is hiding, a tired open bottle of vermouth will be obvious. Refrigerate it after opening and finish it within a month.
Is it really Bond's first drink?
Yes. In Casino Royale, Bond orders an Americano before the Vesper appears. He also observes elsewhere in Fleming that it is a sensible thing to order in a bar whose cocktails you do not trust.
Variations
- Milano-Torino — The same two ingredients, no soda.
- Negroni — Gin in place of the soda.
- Americano Highball — Lengthened further, in a tall glass over plenty of ice.
- Negroni Sbagliato — Sparkling wine in place of the soda.
Where it comes from
c. 1860s · Milan, Italy · Gaspare Campari · Caffè Campari
The drink began as the Milano-Torino — Campari from Milan, sweet vermouth from Turin — served at Gaspare Campari’s bar in Milan from the 1860s. The name changed in the early twentieth century, and the most repeated explanation is that American tourists and expatriates took to it so enthusiastically during Prohibition that the house renamed it in their honour. It is the drink Bond orders in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, before the Vesper and long before the vodka Martinis of the films.
Sources
- Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, 1953 (novel)
- IBA Official Cocktails list, current (standards body)
- Campari company history, current (producer)
Strength. About 1 US standard drinks at an estimated 10.4% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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