Cardinal: History, Secrets and Twists on the First Roman Cocktail on the IBA List

Published on 10 June 2024
Author: Alessio D'Aguanno

It has just been published the book 101 IBA Cocktails, with the new international cocktail list. And the big news is that, for the first time in history, the list includes a drink born in Rome: the Cardinal.

At first glance, It might seem like a simple twist on the Negroni, with the presence of dry vermouth replacing the red, but the Cardinal has a much longer history. The first versions of this cocktail, initially known as Cardinal, were born in France and almost all had in common the presence of red wine, flavored with spices, which would have given the drink the color of the cardinal's robe.

The first written testimonies date back to the 1920s, in the text Guide du barman et du gourmet chic by Adolphe Torelli, followed by the first Italian publications. The difference that stands out between the Italian versions and those from beyond the Alps is the presence of vermouth in the former, as well as in the book Recettes de cocktails pour 1929. The version of the Cardinal that we know today was born instead inExcelsior Hotel Rome, most likely in the early 1950s. Cardinal Francis Joseph Spellman used to drink a drink with Riesling, gin, bitters and spices (cloves, cinnamon and lemon peel). The barman Giovanni Raimondo he proposed, probably to speed up the recipe, the French version, with dry vermouth instead of wine and spices. From that moment, the cocktail was called Cardinal and was increasingly requested, in hotels as well as in the United States, as demonstrated by the presence of the recipe in the book The bartender's book (1951) by Jack Townsend.

Today, the Cardinal is living a new life, thanks to the expert bartender of the The Westin Excelsior Rome Luke of France, who decided to focus on it since the pre-Covid 19 period. “Every now and then our work needs something new. But I thought: why not re-propose something that we have at home? So I decided to re-propose this cocktail that had enjoyed a period of great success in America and that in Italy had always lived in the shadow of the Negroni. Rome had never had a cocktail that represented it”. The Cardinal's rebirth, however, passes through that of another dusted-off recipe: the Cardinal Spritz. The reason? "Back then, as now, the Spritz was in fashion and in this way you could ride the trend”. The ingredients of the Cardinal Spritz? Riesling, Campari bitters, soda, Cointreau and gin, with a spice of cloves and orange peel.

Today, the Cardinal it does not need a pretext to be requested and, with the release of the new IBA, will have less and less of it. “The Cardinal was a drink designed for the American market and, even today, it is the one that most appreciates this drink. Unfortunately, it is little known and ordered by local customers, because people still think that the hotel bar is only reserved for guests who stay overnight. The only way we have to break down this barrier is word of mouth. Even though we have made important passages on TV and in print, which are helping us to strengthen its image”.

May 10, 2018, at Excelsior, a very unique episode occurred. “One evening a middle-aged American couple sat down at the bar. They asked for a Cardinal. They had a photo with them, which showed a bar counter with American officers and customers. I discovered that one of the officers was the woman's father and that the bar counter was the one at the Rendez Vous, a bar at the Excelsior that served as an after-theatre club. Her father was called Elmer Meidinger and was a sergeant stationed in Rome after the Second World War. His father spoke to him about those unforgettable evenings, when they consumed the Cardinal after dinner. For me, it was one of the most emotional services”.

Today, in addition to the classic version, at Excelsior the Cardinal is offered in twists that hark back to the ancestral recipe, since they use enolito, a medicinal wine. The recipe was borrowed from a monastic coenoby and involves the creation of a wine tincture with drops of lemon, cloves and cinnamon. The drink is finished with six fragrances sprayed on the glass. Some examples? Tonka bean, or orange peel, lemon, bay leaves, hyssop and cardamom, for a Mediterranean result. “The idea behind these fragrances is to recall the cordials that, in the 1940s, when the Cardinal did not yet exist, the owner of the Casamassima hotel gave to guests, who wrote postcards and letters on a desk located where the current bar is located”. Luca Di Francia's latest personal version was designed for after dinner. The recipe calls for the use of XO Pale & Dry Delamain cognac, orange liqueur, Campari Double Cask, Mancino Dry.