Not since Stanley Tucci’s at-home tutorial has the Negroni gotten this much positive attention.
Earlier this month, HBO Max debuted a video in which Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke—the actors taking over the roles of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon, respectively—interviewing each other. It was part of HBO Max’s “Get To Know Me” series that introduces us to the cast of House of the Dragon, many of whom may be unfamiliar to most viewers, with a series of low-stakes questions with the goal of showing off just how charming the cast is. (Emily Carey and Fabien Frankel, Matt Smith and Milly Alcock, and Steve Toussaint and Eve Best starred in the other videos.)
D’Arcy and Cooke’s interview is getting lots of traction for one particular question and response when Cooke asked D’Arcy what their drink of choice was.
“A Negroni,” D’Arcy answered. “Sbagliato. With Prosecco in it.”
As D’Arcy gave their answers, Cooke responded alongside them, almost as if it were a beck-and-call, responding to the full description of D’Arcy’s drink with “Oh, stunning.” Cooke then reveals that her drink of choice lately is a martini, although it “gets me really pissed.”
@hbomax I’ll take one of each. #houseofthedragon ♬ a negroni sbagliato w prosecco l hbo max – hbomax
The clip is no more than 20 seconds in length—even less so if you’re only focused on D’Arcy’s description of how they like their Negroni.
Sbagliato roughly translates to “wrong” or “mistake” in Italian. In the case of a Negroni Sbagliato, it means replacing the gin in a traditional Negroni (Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin), with sparkling wine; the drink reportedly originated decades ago after a bartender in Milan grabbed a bottle of Prosecco instead of gin when making the drink.
But as D’Arcy’s drink caught on and became a meme in its own right, it was less about the cocktail and more about how D’Arcy’s drink of choice—“Prosecco. Sbagliato. With Prosecco in it”—sounds when they recited it in their English accent. Some people are just as enamored with Cooke’s Mancurcian accent. And it’s especially a hit with many in the LGBTQ+ community
Others imagined the chagrin coming from all the bartenders who might now have to make an influx of Negroni Sbagliatos for customers.
Even Frankel, one of D’Arcy and Cooke’s co-stars, referenced it in a Twitter Q&A when asked what he would name a dragon.
And on TikTok, more than 15.2 thousand videos have used the audio from HBO Max’s account since it was posted on Oct. 1. Some people recorded themselves reacting to the video and audio. But, as other videos that use the audio demonstrate, sometimes it’s less about the drink than the tone: D’Arcy’s love of Negroni Sbagliatos, the pauses they take when describing the drink, and Cooke’s enthusiastic response to them.
@wang_lifestyle Can you tell my apartment is my personality? #loftapartment #apartmenttour #sanfrancisco #interiordesign ♬ a negroni sbagliato w prosecco l hbo max – hbomax
@kingprincess #duet with @hbomax #HouseOfTheDragon ♬ a negroni sbagliato w prosecco l hbo max – hbomax
The next episode of House of the Dragon airs on Sunday, so that’s plenty of time to perfect your Negroni Sbagliato recipes.