Celebrate Negroni Week

It's Negroni Week: Sample the classic cocktail at these establishments and help charities

For the fourth year in a row, bars and restaurants across the Houston-area will be celebrating Negroni Week. Sponsored by Imbibe magazine and Campari, the worldwide event that runs through 12 promotes the classic cocktail that combines equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. For every Negroni purchased, $1 is donated to a charity of the bar owners' choosing.

Many bartenders tout the Negroni as their favorite drink. The cocktail's bitter kick sets in apart from sweeter, more popular options. Also, the simple recipe provides for endless variations where both the gin and vermouth are swapped for other spirits. Those factors help explain the event's success. In only two years, Negroni Week participation has grown from 16 places in 2014 to almost 75 in 2016.

Bistecca
Admittedly, a barrel-aged Negroni probably doesn't pair well with signature dishes like octopus carpaccio or the namesake Bistecca Fiorentina porterhouse. However, it will stimulate the appetite, which will help leave room for one extra spoonful of mac and cheese. The restaurant will donate $1 from every cocktail sold to the American Cancer Society.

Etoile
Beverage manager Kimberly Paul (on the short list for Houston's most underrated bartender) is taking global approach to the Negroni with seven cocktails inspired by different countries. For example, she's serving a Brazilian variation made with cachacha and a Mexican variation made with mezcal. Evelyn's Park in Bellaire will receive $1 from each cocktail sold.

Grand Prize
Not surprisingly, your favorite bartender's favorite bar will serve up no fewer than five Negorni options, including frozen Jungle Birds (essentially, a rum-based Negorni), draft Boulevardiers (rye whiskey Negroni), and sparking Campari jello shots. Grand Prize will donate $1 for each drink sold to the Wildlife Center of Texas.

Hunky Dory
The pub within this British-American tavern may be known for its whisky selection, but the bartenders have a flair for cocktails, too. The five Negroni variations include a riff on the classic Rusty Nail (made with Scotch and Drambuie) as well as the "Good Campion" made with Hell-Cat Maggie Whiskey and Cynar (in place of Campari). Hunky Dory will donate $1 from each $10 cocktail sold to BARC.

Pax Americana/Zimm's
The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Restaurant of the Year and its companion bar are each serving three Negroni variations for $11 each. At Pax, consider the Hidden Hand made with mezcal, or head to Zimm's for a Pink Flamingo that adds pineapple juice, lime juice, and condensed milk to the traditional recipe. Pax will donate $2 to Plant It Forward, and Zimm's will donate $2 to Child Advocates.

Wooster's Garden
Rather than create a special menu, the Midtown bar has simply discounted all four of its house cocktails that feature Campari to $10 and will donate an impressive $5 from each drink sold to the Houston Area Women's Center. Options include the Velvet Sun (vodka, lime juice, ginger beer) and the Bitter Rival (rum, pomegranate molasses).

Etoile's Brazilian Negroni uses cachacha.

Courtesy photo

Etoile's Brazilian Negroni uses cachacha.

fundraisers cocktails drinks

wave goodbye, Wooster's

Midtown bar with creative cocktails and craft taps will close in February

Photo courtesy of Wooster's Garden

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A staple Midtown cocktail bar will soon serve its last drink. Wooster’s Garden will close on February 12, co-owner Jeff Barati announced on Instagram.

He paid tribute to the bar in an emotional post about its legacy.

Since 2014, Wooster’s Garden has been so much more than a place to grab a cocktail – it’s been a second home, a meeting place, a celebration spot, a refuge after long days, and the backdrop to countless memories. Truly my favorite of all our concepts. So many great memories that are very difficult to put into words. I’m getting emotional typing this.

We’ve watched first dates and engagement parties turn into lifelong partnerships, strangers become regulars, and regulars become family. We’ve shared laughs, tears, milestones, cigar nights, and late nights. None of this would have been possible without the community that showed up night after night – your support, stories, and loyalty are what gave this Midtown haven a heartbeat.

Barati tells CultureMap that he and business partner Andy Aweida have leased the space to a new operator who will announce its plans soon. Still, he has some hope that Wooster’s will be revived in the future.

“Our tentative plan is to reopen elsewhere if we can find the right location,” he writes a in a text. “The staff wants to stay together and reopen.”

Opened in 2014 by the Kirby Group, Wooster’s Garden offered a compelling mix of craft cocktails paired with an extensive tap wall of beer and wine along with creative, upscale bar food. Its format and indoor-outdoor design served as a template for a number of the group’s later concepts, including Heights Bier Garten and Bayou Heights Bier Garten.

Closing Wooster’s Garden follows the Kirby Group’s recent decision to shutter Verde Garden, its Mexican-themed bar in Montrose’s Harlow District development. It will be replaced by Exilio Latin Flair, a pan-Latin restaurant from the owners of Bari Ristorante.

cocktails closings wooster's garden