Cocktail recipe
Enzoni
A bitter, bright gin sour whose fresh grapes soften Campari's edge.
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) London dry gin
- 15 ml (½ oz) Campari
- 15 ml (½ oz) fresh lemon juice
- 15 ml (½ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 6 seedless green grapes, muddled
- Garnish: 3 seedless green grapes on a pick
Preparation
Press six grapes just enough to burst their skins in a shaker; don't grind them into bitter pulp. Add gin, Campari, lemon and syrup, shake hard with ice and double-strain onto a large cube. Lay a pick of three grapes across the glass.
Glassware
Rocks glass with one large cube
History
Vincenzo Errico created the Enzoni at Match Bar in London in 2001, according to his later firsthand account. He brought it to New York's Milk & Honey, where Sasha Petraske helped refine the drink. Older retellings sometimes place its creation in New York around 2003. The original Errico formula leaned more heavily on gin than some later equal-parts gin-and-Campari versions; the earliest iteration also reportedly featured red currants.
Mixology View
We choose the creator-attributed, gin-forward proportions: grapes should round the bitterness, not turn this into grape juice. The 2001 London account is stronger than the oft-repeated 2003 New York origin.