Where to go for Negroni Week in Shanghai

Hey, it's Negroni Week until Sunday 12, a now-annual celebration of the classic Italian cocktail that sees Negroni-related events taking place all over the world. Sure, it's a promotional thing for a certain liqueur that's one of the crucial ingredients that goes into the glass, but any excuse right?

So what's going on in Shanghai for Negroni Week 2016? Glad you asked.

Naturally, the Italian-run Funkadeli group are getting involved. Funkadeli, Funkadelino and relative newcomer The Parrot are donating 1USD for each glass and 5USD for each bottle of Negroni they sell this week to Shanghai-based boxing gym Aboro Academy. Get one of their 35RMB Negronis on Yongkang Lu and follow them on WeChat and they'll also give you a free shot of the stuff as a bonus, or try and lay your hands on a bottle of mixologist Johan Holmberg's special 'Negroni - The Parrot Edition' (388RMB), available at each venue.

Also until Sunday, the JW Marriott at Tomorrow's Square are serving classic and 'oaky smokey' Negronis at their outlets for 58RMB a pop (though this being a hotel and all, there's a pesky 10 percent service charge and the new 6 percent VAT on top of that). For each Negroni ordered, they'll be sending 8RMB to the Yao Foundation, Yao Ming's organisation that supports educational services in rural China.

Over on Hefei Lu, relaxed hang out Funky Monkey Bar - who are always in our good books thanks to their ban on Pitbull and Celine Dion - are offering up three special Negronis in addition to the classic. Their Summer Negroni uses a base of sloe gin, the Vegetal Negroni swaps vermouth for Cynar, and the Cacao Negroni has cacao-infused rum instead of gin mixed with the traditional vermouth and Campari. Yum. Their chosen charity for donations is the Bo Ai Children's Rehabilitation Centre.

That's all we know of so far (if you're a bar and your'e doing something, let us know in the comments), though if you just want more top-class Negronis, we recommend Tailor Bar (who do some interesting twists if you ask them nicely) and Senator Saloon (for their barrel-aged version). If you decide to go to either of those spots for Negroni Week, remember that charity giving is meant to be a part of the celebrations, so donate some money to a good cause (other than the cause of getting yourself a good drink we mean).

So there you go. Get out there and raise a glass this week to Count Negroni, the man who in 1919 asked the barkeep to swap the soda water (boo!) in his Americano for gin (huzzah!) and thus created the eponymous, glorious drink.