Barista competitor and beverage mad man Truman Severson is running a brand new coffee pop-up called Hopper & Burr inside Little Sparrow, a restaurant in downtown Santa Ana, California. No stranger to incredible coffee-forward drink concoctions, Severson is celebrating #NegroniWeek with three unique spins on the classic cocktail.
“Like coffee, a negroni is sweet and bitter, complex and simple, strong and tasty,” Severson tells us. “So we’ve build a range of drinks that move from more-like-a-coffee to more-like-a-cocktail.”
Here are the three cocktails available this week at Hopper & Burr.
Donald Sutherland’s Doom
What’s inside Donald Sutherland’s Doom? “A negroni disguised as a cappuccino,” Severson says. “A single shot of George Howell’s Kochere along with a mixture of milk, gin, Campari, Dolin Rouge vermouth, and a touch of raw sugar. The mini milk punch is steamed together and served just like a cappuccino, but you know, it’s smuggling booze.”
Make it at home!
1/2 oz Plymouth gin
1/2 oz Campari
3/4 oz Dolin Rouge
1/4 oz raw sugar simple syrup (1:1)
3 oz whole milk
1 single espresso
The Prep
Steam everything except for the espresso together and add to ceramic cappuccino cup, first espresso, then drink frothy mixture.
Americano//Americano
An americano americano—how meta! We love it. Severson tells all: “The negroni comes from a older drink named the Americano, wherein the gin is substituted for sparking mineral water. This proto-negroni is refreshing, light, and has at its base water, which is similar to a cafe Americano. Here Campari, Carpano Antica, and still water are force carbonated and topped with an espresso then garnished with orange.”
Make it at home!
1 1/2 oz Campari
1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica
3 oz still water
1 single espresso
The Prep
Force carbonate the first three ingredients and refrigerate until chilled. “This helps to prevent over dilution as well as insures the co2 stays in solution,” says Severson.
Fill a Collins glass with spear ice, add sparking ingredients, top with espresso and garnish with orange.
The Kingsman Cocktail
And finally, the Kingsman Cocktail. “The thing that makes a negroni worthy of its own week is its infinite variability,” quips Severson, but he’s right, you know. “Swap American whiskey for gin and it’s a Boulevardier. Rum? That’s a Kingston. This beverage is home to Gosling’s dark rum, tawny port, Campari and George Howell’s Pulcal yellow bourbon iced coffee from Guatamala. Served down, garnished with orange, this one is all cocktail.”
Make it at home!
1 oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum
1 oz Campari
1 oz Tawny port
1 oz Pulcal iced coffee
The Prep
For the iced coffee, Severson brews it hot at a 1:7 ratio and dilutes with equal parts ice. Severson does not recommend cold brew.
Stir and strain into double old fashioned glass over large rock of ice, garnish with orange.
Learn more about Negroni Week here, a collaboration between our friends at Imbibe Magazine and Campari.
Special thanks to Truman Severson for sharing photography and recipes.
