Cardinale
A Cardinale is 40ml of gin, 20ml of dry vermouth and 10ml of Campari, stirred over ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with a lemon twist squeezed over the surface. About 2.2 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s, and so is the lemon. It is the Negroni turned dry. Dry vermouth replaces the sweet, the Campari falls from a third of the drink to a seventh, and the gin rises to more than half. What is left is pale, sharp and bitter at the edges, nearer a wet Martini with a bitter finish than the drink it descends from. The usual account credits Giovanni Raimondo, bartender at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome, who is said to have made it in 1950 for a cardinal visiting the city for that year’s Jubilee. The first version reportedly used a dry Moselle wine where the vermouth now goes.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Lemon twist expressed over the surface and rested on the rim
Ingredients
40ml
A London Dry at 40% ABV with plenty of juniper. At more than half the drink, with no sugar to hide behind, a thin gin shows; use the bottle you would put in a Martini.
20ml
French-style dry vermouth at about 18% ABV, refrigerated once opened. It takes the place of the Negroni’s sweet vermouth, which removes the caramel and dried fruit and leaves the gin’s botanicals exposed.
10ml
At 25% ABV. Ten millilitres seasons rather than leads, giving bitter orange and a pale pink colour. Fifteen pulls the drink back towards a Negroni; five and it all but disappears.
Instructions
Chill a coupe.
Add the gin, dry vermouth and Campari to a mixing glass.
Fill with cubed ice and stir for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain into the chilled coupe.
Express a lemon twist over the surface and rest it on the rim.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Measure the Campari. Ten millilitres is a small enough pour that a free pour misses by a third, and the drink lives in a narrow band: more and it turns into a thin Negroni, less and it is a Martini with a hint of orange. Stir for 20 to 30 seconds over plenty of cubed ice. There is no juice and no sugar here, so the stir supplies all the water the drink gets, and a short one leaves it hot and closed. Keep the dry vermouth in the fridge and finish the bottle within a month. At 20ml against 40ml of gin, nothing else in the glass hides a stale one.
Behind the Cardinale
Flavour Profile
Against the Negroni
A Negroni is equal thirds of gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, and all three measures move here.
The sweet vermouth becomes dry, which removes the caramel, the dried fruit and most of the body. The Campari falls to 10ml, so the bitterness becomes punctuation. The gin rises to 40ml, more than half the glass, and its juniper is exposed in a way a Negroni never allows.
It suits someone who finds a Negroni too sweet rather than too bitter, and that complaint is more common than it sounds.
A Cardinal in Rome
The account usually given credits Giovanni Raimondo, bartender at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome, with making the drink in 1950, the Jubilee year, for a cardinal summoned to the city by Pope Pius XII. Which cardinal it was changes from one telling to the next.
The first version reportedly used a dry Moselle wine, with a clove-studded orange peel. Dry vermouth took the wine’s place later, perhaps because it keeps once opened and a still wine does not. The red the name points to is the cardinal’s robe, though at 10ml the Campari leaves the glass nearer pale pink.
The Campari Measure
Ten millilitres in a 70ml drink is a small pour, and the drink is calibrated around it.
At full Negroni volume Campari dominates whatever it stands beside. At this measure it seasons, adding a bitter orange edge and a faint colour without taking the gin over. Raise it to 15ml and the balance tips back towards the Negroni; drop it to 5ml and the result is hard to tell from a slightly wet Martini.
Beside the Negroni and the Old Pal
The Cardinale beside our Negroni and Old Pal
Spirit
- Cardinale
- 40ml gin
- Negroni
- 30ml gin
- Old Pal
- 45ml rye
Vermouth
- Cardinale
- 20ml dry
- Negroni
- 30ml sweet
- Old Pal
- 22.5ml dry
Campari
- Cardinale
- 10ml
- Negroni
- 30ml
- Old Pal
- 22.5ml
Served
- Cardinale
- Up, in a coupe
- Negroni
- Over fresh ice
- Old Pal
- Up
UK units
- Cardinale
- About 2.2
- Negroni
- About 2.4
- Old Pal
- About 2.8
| Element | Cardinale | Negroni | Old Pal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit | 40ml gin | 30ml gin | 45ml rye |
| Vermouth | 20ml dry | 30ml sweet | 22.5ml dry |
| Campari | 10ml | 30ml | 22.5ml |
| Served | Up, in a coupe | Over fresh ice | Up |
| UK units | About 2.2 | About 2.4 | About 2.8 |
The Old Pal is the Cardinale’s whiskey cousin: the same dry vermouth, with rye in place of gin and more than twice the Campari. The Negroni keeps the Campari at a full third and sweetens the frame. The Cardinale is the lightest of the three and the most botanical.
How to Serve It
Stirred, strained into a chilled coupe and served before food, with a lemon twist resting on the rim. It is an aperitivo in the strict sense: bitter, dry and low in sugar, meant to sharpen the appetite rather than carry an evening.
It is also a fair test for someone who says they dislike Campari. Much of that dislike is a reaction to the sugar a Negroni carries alongside the bitterness, and here there is almost none.
For the equal-parts original, make a Negroni; for rye with the same dry vermouth, an Old Pal.
Make it at home
The Spirit
CampariCampari is a red Italian bitter liqueur, 25% ABV in the UK, made by steeping herbs and fruit in alcohol and water to an unpublished recipe. Gaspare Campari first made it in Novara in 1860. Its bitterness anchors the Negroni and the Americano, and lengthened with soda over ice it needs nothing else.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Cardinale?
How is a Cardinale different from a Negroni?
Why so little Campari?
Who created the Cardinale?
Should a Cardinale be served over ice?
Is a Cardinale the same as an Old Pal?
How strong is a Cardinale?
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 10 October 2026