2 in 1
Gin · Citrus · Combination
“This could be a disaster.”
Those were the famous words of my friend, Joey, as he took on the precarious task of carbonating a batched Negroni used as the base of this recipe. It was the first cocktail any of us had attempted from The Aviary Cocktail Book. None of us had ever force-carbonated a cocktail—or even seen someone do it. And it was certainly the first time I’d made one drink just to dump it into another. On purpose.
Our tool of choice for force carbonation was the Hamilton Beach Fizzini–a since-discontinued combination serving bottle and hand-held CO2 injector. Once the injector is screwed onto the bottle, a single twist releases the CO2 into the liquid–in this case, a bright red batch of Negronis that could potentially explode all over the white walls of my kitchen. I hadn’t considered this minor detail until I hit record on my phone and my friend uttered his ominous warning.
It wasn’t, in fact, a disaster. The Fizzini made a brief gurgling, hissing noise as the CO2 was released into the Negroni, and then another as the pressure was released from the bottle. The kitchen walls (and the friend group that had gathered to watch the big moment) were no more red than when we began.
Truly, this was a great starting point in our journey. The recipe didn’t require specialized ice and it used flavor combinations that were not only approachable but familiar enough to tell if something was out of balance. The only other unusual step was transferring the carbonated Negroni into individual glass bottles before serving. To be honest, we skipped that step and poured them straight from the Fizzini bottle into glasses at my dining table. We didn’t start off being sticklers to the rules–we were trying new things and having fun. Besides, I’m not sure we knew where to find bottles small enough to contain a single serving of Negroni without lots of empty space. I know I didn’t.
Alex leafing through one of the other 117 recipes in the book.
Once each guest had their serving of carbonated Negroni, we went to the kitchen and returned with a White Lady for each guest served in my great-grandmother’s crystal wine glasses. At the time, I didn’t have a set of coupe glasses, just some pint glasses I’d kept since undergrad and a hodgepodge of martini glasses that belonged to my husband. The White Lady (a shaken gin cocktail with citrus, egg white, and orange bitters) was a fancy cocktail, and while I enjoyed craft cocktails, we never made fancy cocktails at home–at least not for a crowd. Come to our house on a Saturday night and you’d be served a jaw-lockingly stiff old fashioned (made by me) or a boozy batched mojito made with bottled lime juice (made by my husband, Abe).
In another timeline, this is how things would have continued had it not been for Joey’s invitation to join him in making the cocktails from this book. I believe his exact words were, “You’re the only one I know who’s crazy enough to do this.” That was all it took. He had recently learned that The Aviary had published a book containing over 100 of their recipes, and that the book was photographed by Allen Hemberger, author of The Alinea Project, who documented his journey making every recipe from The Alinea Cookbook. The idea of making these epic drinks together was too good to pass up, and we would go on to make almost 50 more cocktails together.
Back to the 2 in 1, once both the carbonated Negroni and White Lady cocktails were presented to each guest at the table, we invited them to sample each one individually before pouring the Negroni into the White Lady glass. The colors swirled and melded from white to blush to a deep pink, the flavors mingled, and the complex citrus notes began to jump out as carbonation was added to the mix. The only thing I might change about it is the name: as a Chicago-lover, I would reach for a literary reference and call it The Devil in the White City…although a name like that that would actually discourage some people from visiting Chicago? Hard to know.
A journey of 1,000 Negronis begins with a single toast.
Frankly, I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good Negroni, so the whole evening was also a sort of litmus test for some of my newer friendships. Thankfully, everyone passed. Clean up was a breeze, and we knew it was a good party when everyone lingered after the main event.
Looking back, our beginnings were very humble. We didn’t have a dedicated Instagram account to document our progress and we didn’t stage any elaborate photo shoots. At the time, our friend Alex was part of the group, which up until that night didn’t have a name. By the end of the evening, we had dubbed ourselves “The Gayviary”—a name that was both clever and ridiculous. The surviving photos from that night include a shot of the three of us, a couple group pics with our guests, a cocktail pic quickly staged on my dining table, and a slow motion video of the moment where the two cocktails were mixed. All were taken on my phone. The group photo turned out nicely, but the carbonation video is a little fuzzy and the pouring video is severely grainy.
The original Gayviary crew: Me, Alex, and Joey
Actually–upon reviewing the caption, I see the makings of more elaborate cocktail shoots to come. The caption reads, “Never have I ever: a) carbonated a cocktail, b) used two different orange bitters in a single drink, c) poured alcohol through a funnel for a photo op when someone wasn’t doing a handstand on the other end.” Seven years later, while I still haven’t done a kegstand since college, I have poured many a cocktail through a funnel for the sole purpose of photographing the glass with minimal splatter.
The last thing I recall is us ending the night feeling giddy and proud, wondering which of the 117 remaining cocktails we might make next. In addition to successfully making our first entry from The Aviary Cocktail Book, we noticed that one of the people who liked our first Instagram post was none other than Allen Hemberger himself. The fact that we had even a fleeting virtual connection to such an influential figure in this project felt electric. There was no question that we’d make a second cocktail. I just didn’t realize that I’d still be doing this seven years later.
That awkward group photo moment when you can’t agree whether or not to do a “fun one”. I think everyone chose correctly.
Thanks for reading.
Whether you're a fellow home bartender, photographer, writer, collector, or simply enjoyed the story, I'd love to hear from you at hello@gayviary.com.