How to Make Carbonated Negroni Cocktails

By
Maggie Hoffman
Maggie Hoffman is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Maggie Hoffman
Maggie Hoffman is a writer and editor focusing on cocktails and food. She was the managing editor for Serious Eats until 2016 and is the digital director for Epicurious.
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Updated Sep. 13, 2020
Pour into Isi carbonating bottle

Pour stirred cocktails into Isi carbonating bottle. If you don't have a mixing glass with a pour spout, you may want to use a funnel to avoid splashing. At this point, you can seal the bottle and keep your bottled Negronis in the fridge until ready to serve, or carbonate immediately as long as the bottle is cold.

 Alice Gao

Getting a Soda Stream seltzer maker was a serious lifestyle change for me: I had been lugging a bottle or two of seltzer up my apartment building's four flights of stairs pretty much every time I went to the grocery store for years, and feeling pretty bad about all the plastic bottles I was going through because of my fizzy-water habit. The reusable bottles and ease of self-carbonating New York City's tasty tap water made me very happy to add the Soda Stream to my last remaining little corner of counter space.

But like with any new toy, I got bored with the Soda Stream. You can add the brand's flavored powders to your fizzy water after carbonating (I don't, though, not really being a pseudo-cola or faux-Sprite person), or mix it with juice, but you aren't supposed to introduce non-water liquids to the machine before fizzing it up—particles in the liquids supposedlycause it to explode everywhere, and at the very least, the sugar gums up the system.

Enter theTwist N Sparkle Beverage Carbonating Systemfrom iSi (a company known for its whipped cream and foam chargers.) This little beauty directly carbonates whatever liquid you desire—lemonade, tea, juice, cocktails—as long as the liquid is cold, the sky's the limit.

New York bartenderTheo Liebermanof Milk and Honey and Lantern's Keep showed us how to make a carbonated Negroni using the Twist N Sparkle—it wasn't a surprising choice of drink; Lieberman loves this classic Campari cocktail and even has a Negroni tattoo on his leg. The Negroni takes to carbonation well—it stays rich and heady, with just a bit of tingly sparkle. It doesn't become a Negroni-and-soda (unless you want to add more water), and the bubbles seem to accentuate the Campari's bittersweet flavor.

Check out the slideshow for easy step-by-step instructionsfor making carbonated Negronis for a crowd.

Lieberman also recommends trying the Isi sparkler with other cocktails, such as a carbonatedVesper, carbonatedCobbler, or a twist on theTom Collins, served fizzy but without any soda.

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