Earl’s Juke Joint hosted the official Sydney launch party of Negroni Week on Sunday 11 September, in partnership with Campari and Imbibe.
Negroni Week is an annual event celebrating the legendary bitter and boozy concoction, of which Campari is a vital part.
Around the world, leading bars and restaurants mix-up Negronis in the name of Slow Food, an Italian-based charity that encourages traditional cuisine, and local agriculture in harmony with the native ecology. For each bar that signs up, $25 is donated to Slow Food, while $1 from every subsequent Negroni sale goes to any charity of the venue’s choice.
This year, Campari challenged two of Australia’s leading bartenders to create a unique twist on the famous red cocktail – Earl’s Pasan Wijesena and Cara Devine from Melbourne’s Bomba Rooftop. The pair combined to produce ‘The Artemis’, a kind of synthesis of the Negroni, and the classic sherry-based cocktail, the Adonis.
For Pasan, the cocktail is a testament to the inventive power of drinks-making.
“Coming together with Cara to make the Artemis demonstrates the creative potential of mixology. The cocktail pays homage to both our bars, with the sherry nodding to Bomba Bar, and the beeswax representing one of my bar’s most popular drinks, the Diabolical Biz,” Pasan says.
Bomba Bar is known for its list of Spanish sherries and Australian apera, while the Diabolical Biz is a beeswax infused take on a Sazerac, previously released in bottles.
“We named it ‘Artemis’ as the legend goes that Greek God Artemis killed Adonis – this cheeky name is representative of the cocktail. This is my sixth year working with Campari during Negroni Week and each year gets bigger and better,” Pasan continued.
Meanwhile, Cara acknowledged the challenge of improving on a well-worn classic, saying: “A Negroni is a three-ingredient masterpiece and its simplicity makes it the perfect cocktail to experiment with.”
“However, it wasn’t easy, as the Negroni is iconic purely for its simplicity. We hope our twist lives up to the original and inspires people to enjoy it – in the name of charity.”