This article was published on October 11, 2022 and updated to include products from our collaboration with Bar Basso, the inventor of the negroni sbagliato.
A big lump with knobs? Macaroni with the chicken strips? No, Negroni Sbagliato with prosecco in it. Thanks to House of the Dragon star Emma D’Arcy, the Italian cocktail is TikTok’s next big thing.
On October 10, HBOMax’s official account posted a snippet from an interview between D’Arcy (who plays protagonist Princess Rhaeneyra) and co-star Olivia Cooke (Alicent Highwater). In it, the actors grill each other on their favorite drinks, leading D’Arcy to deliver a now-viral response: “Negroni… Sbagliato… with prosecco in it,” they purr in the world’s smoothest British accent.
“Oh, stunning!” Cooke replies, adding that she prefers a gin martini with a twist.
Sbagliato T-Shirt
Bar Basso x Highsnobiety
Buy at Highsnobiety
The video, played over 11 million times, took off across social media, spawning memes and effusive reactions, mostly to D’Arcy’s strangely seductive enunciation. Bartenders are no doubt feeling the effects of the viral clip — in another widely shared video, creator Rayne McGowan riffs on mixologists’ reactions to the influx of orders for Negroni Sbagliatos (FYI: you don’t need to specify “with prosecco”).
So what exactly is the trending drink? It’s a version of the traditional Negroni, a blood-red cocktail of campari, vermouth, and gin that had its day in 2021. D’Arcy’s Negroni Sbagliato, which in Italian means “mistake,” swaps out the gin for sparkling wine, usually prosecco.
Sbagliato T-Shirt
Bar Basso x Highsnobiety
Buy at Highsnobiety
“Negroni… sbagliato… with prosecco in it” is the sound-bite of the century, and the world’s drink of choice to boot. Dethroning the espresso martini and the Aperol spritz, D’Arcy has named the bitter, bubbly concoction the successor to the kingdom of booze.
Clearly, we’re over Corn Kid and “Macaroni with the chicken strips,” two food-related TikTok moments that ran their course. Now, excuse me while I figure out how to dress as a Negroni Sbagliato for Halloween.
