An all-too-brief origin story about one of my favorite drinks, sorrel, from culinary historian Ramin Ganeshram in Imbibe:

Our folklore tells us that the first sorrel maker was Anansi, the trickster spider, a character from the Akan storytelling tradition. Anansi traveled from Ghana to the Caribbean with enslaved people, and was adapted based on local traditions. Anansi, the story goes, steals a stalk of roselle hibiscus, flings it into a pot of boiling water with sugar and spices (including a native Caribbean addition, allspice), and tries to pass it off as wine. When villagers don’t believe him, Anansi cries, “It is so real!” What they hear is “It’s sorrel,” and so the drink and the name were born.

The truth of the name is a darker story. As violence stripped enslaved people of their cultural identities and languages, the drink called bissap in Senegal, zobo in Nigeria, and zobolo in Ghana became known as “sorrel,” a pidgin form of roselle.

Ganeshram also drops this nugget:

In the last 12 years, bartenders have come to know an elegant form of this heritage Caribbean drink in Sorel, the liqueur made by Jackie Summers (whose mother's parents emigrated from Barbados) and his company, Jack From Brooklyn. Made with roselle flowers from North Africa, Sorel is the most awarded liqueur in American history, with more than 200 accolades in the gold or better category. It's a smooth, complex brew that subtly and consistently marries the flavors of traditional sorrel without the home-brewed inconsistencies that can make it too sweet or sour, or too heavy on certain spices.

I’ve enjoyed Sorel for years and had no idea it was so well-appreciated by others.

Imbibe magazine, on negroniweek.com:

In 2013 Imbibe Magazine launched Negroni Week as a celebration of one of the world’s great cocktails and an effort to raise money for charitable causes around the world.

Since then, Negroni Week has grown from about 120 participating venues to thousands of venues around the world, and to date, the initiative has raised over $5 million for charitable organizations.

The charitable organization this year is Slow Food:

Slow Food is a global movement acting together to ensure good, clean and fair food for all.

We’re halfway through the week, but better late than never.

There are about 60 venues participating in San Francisco; you can search your area.

I’ve been celebrating Negroni Week since at least 2015, and while I don’t need an excuse to tip a Negroni—it’s my favorite “daily drinker” cocktail—I welcome the opportunity.

While I definitely enjoy a classic Negroni (a 1:1:1 ratio of gin, sweet vermouth, and a bitter apertivo, historically Campari—my current standard being Sipsmith London Dry Gin, Cocci Vermouth di Torino, and St. George Bruto Americano or recent fave Bordiga “Red Bitter”) my favorite “Negroni” is in fact a variant, the Boulevardier, which swaps out gin for Bourbon.

What I love about the Negroni is its versatility. There are an infinite number of gins, bitter aperitivos, and vermouths to explore, each imparting its own distinct flavor on the classic, plus adjustments in ratios as taste dictates.

Then consider the spirit swaps. Prosecco for gin: the suddenly everywhere Sbagliato. Rum instead: The Kingston Negroni. Dry vermouth instead of sweet: The Cardinale. Sub in Rye and dry vermouth: The Old Pal. And of course, the aforementioned Boulevardier’s Bourbon. The Negroni Week site has several recipes that are with trying.

A few years back I joined a Negroni club (through Bitters and Bottles in South San Francisco) so I’d have an excuse to explore a range of Negroni-inspired cocktails.

Any (reasonably priced) spirit that enters my home bar will eventually get the Negroni treatment as part of its evaluation. It’s an experimenter’s delight.