• 30mL calvados
• 30mL sweet red vermouth
• 30mL Campari

Stir everything over ice until well-chilled. Strain into a rocks glass with ice in it. Could garnish with either an orange peel, an apple wedge, both, or nothing.

In general, I do love a good negroni. But even more than the drink itself, I love the format. It’s such a delightful base for variation. You probably already know a few variations on the drink. The boulevardier, substituting whisky in for the gin, is always a popular variation. Tonight, I felt like playing around, so I used calvados in place of the gin.

Similar to the gin in a negroni, the calvados supplies some nice fruit notes. Similar to the whisky in a boulevardier, the calvados adds some extra body and structure to help bring all of the flavors together, and stands up a bit better to the Campari than a more delicate spirit might. The vermouth you use can also be a bit of a bully, too. In this case I used the Carpano Antica, which definitely fits that description. But in this case it works so well, the fruit of the calvados, the spiciness of the vermouth, and the bittersweet Campari all mix together quite nicely. Another great example of a Mr. Potato Head variation on a negroni bringing some fun flavors and combos out.