St. Agrestis and the Phony Negroni, Bottle by Bottle
St. Agrestis makes its alcohol-free drinks in a distillery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where it also makes an amaro. The amaro explains how the rest of the range is made. Going by its distributor's description of the method, the Phony Negroni and its siblings are not three alcohol-free stand-ins for gin, vermouth and bitter poured together. Each one is a finished drink in a 200 ml bottle, and the distributor describes its botanicals being steeped one by one, as the company's amaro botanicals are, but in water rather than alcohol. Below are the classic Phony Negroni and three bottles built on it, the Phony White Negroni (shop Phony White Negroni), the Phony Mezcal Negroni (shop Phony Mezcal Negroni) and the Phony Espresso Negroni (shop Phony Espresso Negroni), all read from the maker's own descriptions. Amaro Falso (shop Amaro Falso), a separate recipe, closes the set. The non-alcoholic drinks guide covers the wider category.
The maker
St. Agrestis began as an amaro. According to its distributor, Skurnik Wines & Spirits, the brand was created by two sommeliers who had fallen for the local amaro culture of northern Italy, and Louis Catizone bought it in 2017 and moved it from Gowanus to Greenpoint. The company's own about page credits the brothers Louis and Matt Catizone, working with Steven DeAngelo of Greenhook Ginsmiths, the Greenpoint gin distillery whose space St. Agrestis shares. The about page says the brothers grew up with amaro at the family table, the sons of an immigrant father and a first-generation Italian-American mother.
The company says everything happens inside its Greenpoint distillery, from product development to production and bottling. It also describes itself as the first to produce amaro in New York City. Skurnik says the original St. Agrestis Amaro built a cult following among Brooklyn bar-goers in its early years.
How a phony Negroni is built
A Negroni is equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and a bitter red aperitivo, as the zero-proof Negroni recipe sets out. The obvious alcohol-free version would be three alcohol-free components stirred together. St. Agrestis, by its distributor's account, works differently. Skurnik reports that the team sources botanicals from five continents and macerates each one separately, for different lengths of time. The alcoholic products steep in alcohol at varying proofs. The alcohol-free ones steep in water. By that account, the Phony Negroni is not a spirit with the alcohol taken out.
The maker lists 30 ingredients for the Phony Negroni, described as real, raw and non-GMO. It names three key botanicals, juniper, citrus peel and gentian root, and describes the juniper as Tuscan and the citrus as southern Italian. The maker groups the recipe's botanicals as floral, citrus and bitter. The drink is sweetened with organic cane sugar from the Caribbean. The maker says it contains no grapefruit and no artificial colors or flavors, and that trace amounts of juniper and quinine are present. The last piece is light carbonation, which the maker says adds texture and bite and stands in for the alcohol.
The maker sells it as non-alcoholic, and Difford's Guide lists it at 0 percent alcohol by volume. Difford's also lists 44 kcal per 100 ml, which works out to about 88 kcal for a full 200 ml bottle. The maker's page lists Best in Class at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022 and 2024, and Platinum in 2024.
The four bottles
Phony White Negroni (shop Phony White Negroni) is the pale one. The maker calls it floral and dry and says it starts from the same 30-botanical base as the classic, with the gentian root and citrus turned up. It is then clarified, and the maker compares the result to drinking Champagne. Its lead botanicals, per the maker, are citrus peel, gentian root and juniper.
Phony Mezcal Negroni (shop Phony Mezcal Negroni) swaps the juniper lead for smoke. The maker lists smoke, citrus peel and gentian root as its lead botanicals and describes a vegetal, earthy drink, again from 30 ingredients. It is alcohol-free, and the maker describes the smoke as coming "with none of the booze."
Phony Espresso Negroni (shop Phony Espresso Negroni) takes the classic Phony Negroni as its base and blends in espresso, which the maker says it brews in house. Each bottle carries 100 mg of caffeine. For most adults, the FDA cites 400 mg a day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects, so one bottle is a quarter of that figure. The maker pitches it as an alcohol-free answer to the espresso martini.
Amaro Falso (shop Amaro Falso) is the one bottle in this guide that is not a Negroni. The maker presents it as an alcohol-free amaro, the style the company started with, made from 20 herbs, spices, citrus and other botanicals and led by clove, spearmint and gentian root. The flavor, in the maker's words, runs to herbal spice, mint and bitterness, and the maker suggests it either before a meal as an aperitif or after dinner as a digestif.
Five bottles, side by side
| Bottle | Botanicals, per the maker | Lead botanicals, per the maker | What sets it apart | Serving notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phony Negroni, the base | 30 | Juniper, citrus peel, gentian root | Light carbonation in place of alcohol; about 88 kcal a bottle | Over ice, orange twist |
| Phony White Negroni | 30 | Citrus peel, gentian root, juniper | Clarified; more gentian and citrus | For celebrations, per the maker |
| Phony Mezcal Negroni | 30 | Smoke, citrus peel, gentian root | Smoky and earthy; alcohol-free | Over ice, or from the bottle |
| Phony Espresso Negroni | Base plus espresso | Espresso, citrus peel, gentian root | 100 mg caffeine a bottle | Over ice, or from the bottle |
| Amaro Falso | 20 | Clove, spearmint, gentian root | An amaro, not a Negroni | Before a meal or after it |
What the maker's pages cover
Each product page names three lead botanicals, and all but the Espresso page give a botanical count. The classic and White pages say the maker does not list each natural flavor, to protect the full recipe. The calorie figure above comes from Difford's Guide and applies to the classic Phony Negroni.
How to pour them
The maker's instruction for every bottle is the same: pour into a rocks glass over ice, or drink from the bottle. For the classic it adds an orange twist. One reviewer on the maker's page suggests a lemon twist or lime wedge for the White. For the Amaro Falso, we like a sprig of mint to echo the spearmint already in it. For a different kind of alcohol-free bottle at the same table, the Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Company guide covers sparkling tea, and the home bar guide covers the glassware and ice.
The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and products ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com.
Sources & Further Reading
- St. Agrestis: About, founders and the Greenpoint distillery
- St. Agrestis: Phony Negroni
- St. Agrestis: Phony White Negroni
- St. Agrestis: Phony Mezcal Negroni
- St. Agrestis: Phony Espresso Negroni
- St. Agrestis: Amaro Falso
- Skurnik Wines & Spirits: St. Agrestis producer profile, history and maceration method
- Bklyner: St. Agrestis amaro taproom in Greenpoint, and the move from Gowanus
- Difford's Guide: St. Agrestis Phony Negroni, botanicals and energy per 100 ml
- US Food and Drug Administration: Spilling the Beans, how much caffeine is too much
- International Bartenders Association: Negroni official recipe
- The Pantry Dispatch: The Zero-Proof Negroni
