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Love Negronis? Swap Out Campari for One of These 9 Red Aperitifs Instead

Break up with Campari and find a new red love.

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By Johnny Brayson and Tyler Chin

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A negroni is a three-ingredient cocktail made with equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari. Of those three ingredients, Campari is the only constant — you can try any type of gin or sweet vermouth, but you better not add any kind of bitter except Campari. Well, here’s the thing: Campari isn’t the only ruby-hued bittersweet aperitif that can be used to make an excellent negroni.

Made by Gaspare Campari in 1860, Campari is a bittersweet aperitif — which means it whets your appetite — with strong flavors of orange and herbs. What exactly is in Campari is anyone’s guess. The brand refuses to let anyone into its secret ingredient list, simply saying it’s made of an infusion of bitter herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in water and alcohol. The lack of transparency into Campari’s makeup has done nothing to hamper the drink’s popularity — in fact, the mystery may even enhance it. In 2022, Campari ranked as the world’s best-selling liqueur for the seventh straight year.

The world of red aperitifs and amaro (bitter Italian liqueurs) is more vast than just Campari (and its less bitter competitor Aperol, which also happens to be owned by Campari Group). If you’re looking to reinvigorate your love for negronis (or jungle birds), we rounded up nine of the most popular and unique amari on the market to see if any actually deserve to kick Campari out of your bittersweet cocktail.

Products in the Guide

How We Tested

a group of bottles of alcoholJohnny Brayson

We selected the most popular alternatives to Campari on the market, along with some little-known newcomers that have debuted on the market in the past few years as the negroni’s popularity has exploded nationwide. Our testers compared these bottles to the real deal in side-by-side tastings, comparing the liqueurs’ appearance, nose and taste to that of Campari to see which bottle came closest to the Italian mainstay.

To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.

Best Overall Campari Alternative: Luxardo Bitter Rosso

In our testing, we found Luxardo to be the closest alternative to Campari available in pretty much every category. When it comes to lineage, the Italian brand gives Campari a run for its money. Unlike most brands in this guide that have sprung up within the last decade, Luxardo was founded in 1821 — four decades before the advent of Campari. And while the brand is best known for its Maraschino cherries and liqueur, its Bitter Rosso is an outstanding offering.

bottles of red aperitifs
The color is slightly off, but otherwise, Luxardo’s Bitter Rosso comes extremely close to its fellow Italian.
Johnny Brayson

Appearance-wise, it looks a lot like Campari, as it’s bright red and not super viscous, with a slight hint of orange being the main differentiator. On the nose, it’s again remarkably similar to Campari, matching the icon in the spice department but coming off just a tad less citrusy. Finally, when comparing the most important factor, taste, Luxardo again matches up nicely with Campari. The flavor profile is almost identical, as is the intense sweetness up front. Where Luxardo comes up a bit short is its bitterness. It’s bitter-forward, but its bitterness is neither as strong nor as long-lasting as Campari’s.

Contratto Bitter

Contratto Bitter’s brandy base is already a big step up from Campari; its infusion of 24 botanicals knocks its bright-red competitor out of the park. It’s incredibly herbaceous, which provides a delicious backbone to its citrusy bittersweetness. The color, derived from beet extract and hibiscus, is a nice counter to Campari’s artificially dyed drink, and its strong botanical composition will have you taking sip after sip to get a taste of every ingredient.

Our testers found its flavor profile to be the closest to Campari’s out of all of our competitors, save for Luxardo, as it’s just a tad too on the sweet side if you’re looking for that trademark Campari bitter punch.

St. Agrestis Inferno Bitter Aperetivo

We’ve long been fans of Brooklyn’s St. Agrestis’s mastery over the negroni, from its stellar bottled version to its non-alcoholic “Phony Negroni.” But you can’t have a negroni without amaro, so it makes sense that St. Agrestis would make its own bottle of that, too. The brand’s Inferno Bitter came closest to replicating the Campari experience out of the new-age brands we tried. It has a very similar viscosity to Campari, but its appearance isn’t quite as brilliant – there’s a brown tint that gives off a slightly muddy quality. On the nose, it’s a different animal.

bottles of red aperitifs
“Inferno” makes a valiant effort, but it comes off as a little too sweet and lacks the intense bitterness of Campari.
Johnny Brayson

Fruity, but not very citrusy — think juicy red fruits along with a healthy dose of herbs and a sour note. It’s more medicinal-smelling than Campari, and brings to mind cherry cough syrup. It’s better on the palate, with a flavor profile that closely mimics Campari. It’s very sweet, with well-balanced citrus and spice but leaning a little more into citrus territory than the Italian original. Overall, it’s similarly flavored but both thicker and sweeter, and while there is bitterness, it again is nowhere near as intense as Campari.

Lo-Fi Aperitifs Gentian Amaro

A newer brand, California’s Lo-Fi Aperitifs differentiates itself by using Napa Valley wine as a base for its amaro rather than a neutral grain spirit as is typical. And in our tests, that difference was pretty apparent. Lo-Fi’s Genetian Amaro doesn’t really pass the eye test next to Campari — it’s a lot lighter in body and darker in color, hewing closer to violet than red … it looks like red wine.

bottles of red aperitifs
Lo-Fi’s Amaro is tasty, but it’s a much lighter easy sipper compared to Campari.
Johnny Brayson

The nose is also wine-like, smelling sweeter and juicier than Campari, but still bringing some herbaceousness with a strong anise note. The taste is quite delicious: It’s a lot sweeter and lighter than Campari, with strawberry and orange being the main notes we picked up. There is a slight bitterness on the finish, but not a whole lot. With its lighter flavor and lower ABV, we’d recommend this one to anyone who wants something they can sip straight or thinks Campari is too strong and bitter.

Doladira

The newest brand on this list, debuting in 2023, Doladira isn’t really trying to be a Campari clone, but it still passed the eyeball test with flying colors as this bright red aperitivo is nearly indistinguishable from Campari in the glass. Its appearance and Italian branding (it’s made in France) make it seem like a Campari clone at first glance, but it’s really something else entirely and deserves a spot on your bar cart. Inspired by Alpine aperetivos, Doladira is rhubarb-based, giving it a unique flavor profile distinct from Campari.

bottles of red aperitifs
Doladira is plenty bitter, but its flavor profile is wholly different from Campari’s (extra points for that beautiful bottle).
Johnny Brayson

On the nose, it’s sour and medicinal, with no real citrus or spice to speak of. On the tongue, there’s more sourness and a good punch from the rhubarb. It had the most alcohol burn of any bottle we tested but also the most bitterness after Campari, making it a good option if you want to mix up your flavors without losing Campari’s bitterness.

Brucato Amaro Orchards

Founded in San Francisco in 2021, Brucato is another brand looking to take advantage of California’s abundant natural resources. The brand makes three amari: Woodlands, Chaparral and Orchards. We tried all three, and Orchards is easily the closest to Campari … but it really isn’t close. Appearance-wise, it looked the least like Campari out of everything we tried, looking more brown than red.

bottles of red aperitifs
With its brownish color and syrupy texture, Orchards felt more like a sweet vermouth alternative.
Johnny Brayson

On the nose, it was all dark fruit and raisins, smelling very sweet and more reminiscent of Italian vermouth than amaro. The same can be said on the palate. It’s thick and cloying, dominated by notes of raisins, clove and sherry with only a slight bitter aftertaste. We think it could be good in a negroni, but we’d recommend subbing it for the vermouth rather than the Campari.

Leopold Bros. Aperitivo

Released in 2015, the Aperitivo from Denver-based Leopold Bros. was practically made to take on Campari. It uses interesting ingredients like hyssop, which is part of the mint family, and Artemisia pontica, an herb typically used to flavor vermouth. Leopold Bros. Aperitivo also takes steps that seem to be direct charges against Campari.

The distillery uses cochineal, a crushed beetle, to give its Aperitivo the red flavoring, while Campari uses artificial dyes for its coloring. (Campari used to use cochineal until 2006.) Leopold Bros. also keeps out glycol and glycerin, which are used to make drinks more syrupy — like Campari. A solid choice for those interested in a more natural alternative to corporate Campari.

Tempus Fugit Gran Classico

Forgive Gran Classico’s lack of red coloring, but it still makes a great alternative to Campari. Its recipe is as old as Campari, dating back to 1860, before being sold to Tempus Fugit. Gran Classico is insanely flavorful, owing to its 25 botanicals ranging from a variety of herbs and roots.

It lacks any food coloring, natural or otherwise, so you may confuse someone if you serve them a negroni made with this — don’t expect a pretty red drink. Compared to Campari, Gran Classico has a slightly higher ABV, 28 percent, and retains Campari’s viscosity while turning up the bitterness to max.

Forthave Spirits Red Aperitivo

One thing you’ll notice about the Campari alternatives on this list is that a lot of them are made by local, independent producers. Forthave Spirits is one of those distilleries, and it’s quite popular — your hipster friend who’s always bragging up the latest alternative spirit has probably mentioned it to you. It’s a mix of 13 botanicals — which includes citrus, wild roses and chamomile — that leads to a delicate and floral taste, but despite it’s popularity, it’s not for everyone and was the least well-received by our testers.

We found it to be entirely too sweet and lacking any real bitterness, with one tester saying it “messes with a negroni” and admitting to having disliked her bottle so much she dumped it down the sink. Forthave’s Red Aperitivo clearly has its fans and maybe deserves a spot on your bar cart, but probably alongside your Campari rather than in place of it.

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