Is the Spritz Breaking Up With Aperol?

Prosecco has a new BFF.

It may sometimes seem as if the Aperol Spritz was the first spritz ever, but of course, it was not. A spritz is a category of wine-based cocktails, sometimes also called a spritzer. Long before most of us in the U.S. knew about the Aperol Spritz, often served in Italy as an aperitivo, we knew about white wine spritzers, perhaps because your grandma, mom, or aunt drank them in the late 1900s.

It wasn’t until the Aperol Spritz burst into our collective consciousness in the early 2000s (even though the cocktail has been around since the 1950s) did the word "spritz" become a common word in our cocktail vocabulary.

And well it should have. The combination of Prosecco, bittersweet Aperol, and club soda served in a wine glass with an orange slice is often summed up in one word: refreshing.

But variety is always a good thing, and while the Aperol Spritz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, there’s a new spritz that has cocktail lovers excited this summer, the Hugo Spritz.

What Is a Hugo Spritz?

Substitute the Aperol in an Aperol Spritz with an elderflower liquor, such as St‑Germain, and the orange slice for a lemon slice and a few mint leaves, and you have a Hugo Spritz. The cocktail has taken over social media this hot summer as an alternative (not a replacement) for the Aperol version.

On TikTok, The Spritz Effect says this cocktail that’s super popular in Italy is her most requested cocktail at the moment. The change from Aperol to St. German takes the drink from bittersweet to what she describes as “floral and sweet.”

How to Make a Hugo Spritz

For her version, The Spritz Effect muddles mint leaves in a 1/2 ounce of St-Germain right in a wine glass. (Which, honestly, makes us a bit nervous. If you’re using a fragile wine glass, you might want to do the muddling in a cocktail shaker, then pour the liquor and the muddled mint into the wine glass before adding the remaining ingredients.) She then adds ice, 4 ounces of Prosecco, and 1 ounce of club soda. She garnishes the drink with a lemon slice and a mint sprig.

Many of the people in the TikTok comments mentioned that they’ve had the drink flavored with non-alcoholic elderflower syrup rather than St-Germain, which would give the same flavor profile but make a lower-ABV cocktail.

Whether you use the elderflower liquor or the syrup, consider switching up your spritz game this summer and trying the popular Hugo Spritz.