An ode to the Phony Negroni

Brooklyn-based St. Agrestis offers bittersweet sips for "sinners and saints."

I keep running into the Phony Negroni.

Not just any Phony Negroni. I’m talking about the bubbly single-serve cocktail from St. Agrestis, the Brooklyn-based makers of both nonalcoholic and alcoholic spirits and cocktails, from the Negroni Sbagliato to an Inferno Bitter Aperitivo.

You know, the Phony Negroni.

Brianda Gonzalez, owner of The New Bar nonalcoholic bottle shop in Venice, told me that keeping this drink stocked is “a full-time job.” It’s easy to see why. This perfectly portioned cocktail boasts the bittersweet flavors you know and love with a punch of carbonation for a no-hangover twist. All you have to do is pop the cap.

I first sipped the Phony Negroni over ice with an orange wedge inside a bar in the middle of the California desert, equally delighted by its touch of sweetness and the framed portraits of horses around the pool table at The Tiny Pony in Yucca Valley.

A Phony Negroni at The Tiny Pony in Yucca Valley, Calif.

Then, near my home on the coast, the owner of our neighborhood general store stashed a bottle and sent it home with my roommate — because she knows I don’t drink and often come into her store just to buy Athletic Brewing Co.’s booze-free beer. (This is why I shop at small businesses but, alas, I digress.)

The team behind St. Agrestis includes brothers Matt and Louie Catizone, who were “born to an immigrant father from Italy and a mother from Brooklyn,” according to the website, as well as Greenhook Ginsmith founder Steven DeAngelo. As the Phony Negroni turns a year old, Matt answered a few questions via email about the brand’s popular offerings. (They just added a nonalcoholic Amaro Falso to the lineup.)