The Americano cocktail is both sophisticated and satifying. Learn how to craft the classic Italian cocktail at home in just five minutes.
You’re surely familiar with the Americano cocktail if you’re a movie buff or an Ian Fleming fan. It’s the very first drink that James Bond drinks in Casino Royale and it also appears in From Russia with Love and A View to a Kill. But did you know that the Americano cocktail history predates Fleming’s series by almost a century?
According to cocktail lore, the Americano was born in the 1860s when Gaspare Campari (yes, that Campari) added soda water to a Milano-Torino cocktail at his bar in Milan. The Milano-Torino has just two ingredients – herbaceous Campari from Milan and sweet Punt e Mes vermouth from Turin.
The soda water version eventually donned the name Americano when it became popular with American ex-pats and travelers in Italy. Although mixologists later added gin to create the Negroni in the 20th century, the Campari Americano lives on in both its Italian homeland and around the world.
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Ingredients
You don’t need a million ingredients to craft an Americano at home. If you’re like us, you likely have the necessary ingredients lurking in your kitchen and bar:
Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.
How to Craft an Americano Cocktail
The Americano is one of the easiest Italian cocktails to craft and requires absolutely no special bar tools. We use a jigger, bar spoon, peeler and paring knife in our recipe but you can be creative if you don’t have these tools on hand.
The first step is to peel a strip of peel from an orange and create an orange twist. We like to trim our strip with a paring knife to get smooth edges.
Pro Tip
Twirl your orange peel strip around a chopstick to achieve a curly twist.
The next step is to measure the two liquors with a jigger.
Buy a Japanese jigger from Amazon if you need a jigger or want an inexpensive upgrade. That’s what we did.
You’ll want to pour each liquor into a lowball glass immediately after you measure it. There is no need to use a mixing glass or shaker for this recipe – an ideal situation for lazy mixologists who would rather drink from glasses than wash them.
Once you pour the two liquors, you’ll want to add ice to the glass and gently stir with a bar spoon. We used five medium ice cubes in our drink but one jumbo ice cube would work well too.
Next, top the glass with either club soda or sparkling water. You can add as much or as little as you like. Adding more soda will create a less potent potable.
We use Perrier to craft our cocktails for two reasons. First, Perrier is our preferred sparkling water and it’s what we typically drink at home. Second, club soda isn’t readily available in Lisbon where we live.
Fun Fact
We’re not alone with our preference for Perrier. James Bond drank his Americano cocktails with Perrier too!
The final step is to add an orange peel twist. Before dropping the twist into the glass, rub the orange peel around the glass rim.
Expressing the orange peel like this releases pleasing orange scents and flavors into your Americano.
Variations
Mastering the Americano recipe should take just one try. This is not a cocktail with a learning curve! It’s also a cocktail with lots of variations including the following:
Discover 10 essential bar tools for the home mixologist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Despite its name, the Americano was invented in Milan, Italy.
Campari, Sweet Vermouth, Club Soda, Orange Peel and Ice
The Boulevardier is stirred, not shaken.
We like to serve this cocktail in a lowball glass but you could use a highball glass instead.
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Pour Campari and sweet red vermouth into a glass.
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Add ice and gently stir.
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Top off with club soda or sparkling water.
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Express the orange peel by twisting it over the glass and rubbing it along the rim. Then drop it into the glass as garnish.
- Serve the Americano in a low ball or rocks glass.
- As an option, shake the Americano and serve in a coupe or martini glass.
- Use a 1:1 ratio if you modify the serving size.
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