Cocktail Hour: Top 5 Places to Grab a Negroni in Oxford

Jake Loyer creates a Negroni at Jinsei Sushi Oxford. Video by Talbert Toole.
In honor of Negroni Week (June 4-10), HottyToddy.com is dishing out where you can find the best negronis in town.
Negronis are three parts Campari, vermouth and gin. According to Taariq David, general manager of Grit in Taylor, classic cocktails, such as the Negroni, are staples in the beverage realm.
“[Negronis] are almost 100 years old,” David said. “The fact that it is still in existence and people still know what a Negroni is definitely says something about the stamp it has made.”
Negronis first came onto the scene at Bar Casoni in Florence, Italy in 1920, according to Lucca Picchi’s book ‘Sulle Tracce del Conte: La Vera Storia del Cocktail Negroni.’ According to the book, Count Camillo Negroni ordered an Americano—sweet vermouth, Campari and club soda—and decided to add gin to spice it up.
Bar manager of Jinsei Sushi Oxford Jake Loyer said Negroni ingredients are a perfect and unique combination for bitter high-end cocktails—different from the expected bourbon or rye varieties—and have pushed the boundaries in the U.S. on craft cocktails.
“Negronis really opened the door on what [bartenders] can do with spirits,” Loyer said. “We can kind of blur the line a little bit.”
Here’s our list of the top 5 places to grab a Negroni:
Jinsei Sushi Oxford

Photo courtesy of Jinsei Sushi Oxford.

Photo courtesy of Grit.

Photo by Mackenzie Ross

Photo courtesy of Green Roof Lounge.

Photo by Steven Gagliano.

By Talbert Toole, lifestyles editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at talbert.toole@hottytoddy.com.