The Story Behind The Rosita

Of the countless Negroni riffs, few have made a name for themselves outside their birthplace bar. Of course, there’s the Prohibition-born Boulevardier and the Jamaican-rum-fueled Kingston Negroni, but one often-overlooked classic among Negroni variants is the Rosita, a stirred blend of tequila, Campari, dry and sweet vermouth, and a single dash of bitters to tie everything together.

While we don’t know who invented the Rosita, it made its first appearance in the 1974 edition of the “Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s Guide.” The original version of the book was published in 1935 by Ben-Burk Inc., the company formerly responsible for distilling all Mr. Boston-branded liquors. Since then, multiple editions have been released, each aiming to catalog popular cocktail recipes through the ages. The Rosita went largely unnoticed by bartenders until the late writer and bartender Gary “Gaz” Regan published his slightly riffed take on the cocktail in his 1991 book “The Bartender’s Bible.”

Regan was known for many things, including wearing a single streak of eyeliner under his right eye and stirring Negronis with his index finger. He also invented the bar staple Regans’ Orange Bitters No. 6, brought countless forgotten cocktails back into the limelight, and penned “The Joy of Mixology'' in 2003, which served as an inspirational tome for many bartenders in the early days of the cocktail renaissance.

According to a 2007 article Regan wrote for The San Francisco Chronicle, he actually forgot he’d ever written about the Rosita — until fellow drinks writer Terry Sullivan published Regan’s spec and told him he had discovered it in “The Bartender’s Bible.”

“I didn't remember putting Rosita in ‘The Bartender's Bible,’ but it's there all right,” Regan wrote.

After further investigation, Regan discovered that he pulled the original recipe from the 1988 edition of “Mr Boston Bartender’s Guide,” and added a bit more tequila and a sole dash of bitters. Surprised by the fact that he only added one dash, he even R&D’d the drink again to make sure that the spec was up to snuff.

“It turns out that one dash is all it takes,” he wrote. “I deduce, therefore, that back in 1990, when I was compiling ‘The Bartender's Bible,’ I must have actually tested the recipe for Rosita. Wonders never cease.”

For the recipe below, we went with Regan’s 1991 spec, which is essentially a Perfect Negroni with a heavy pour of tequila and the lone dash of bitters. For those who want to try the original, simply omit the bitters and dial down the tequila to one ounce, but know that there’s a reason this drink has been tweaked since. (The 2012 version from Mr. Boston brings the Campari down to a half-ounce, but to each their own!) For the tequila component, both blanco and reposado are fair game — go for blanco if you’re looking for something more citrusy and bright, and reposado if you’re in the mood for a more oaky, austere cocktail.