Three New Spritzes For Your Summer Day Drinking Needs

Aperol has reigned supreme in the summer spritz game for years. Surely you’ve seen it splashed into a tall glass of prosecco in countless Instagrams and at nearly every restaurant with a patio. While the Aperol spritz is no doubt a refreshing beverage to drink in the sun, there are more options to be had in the spritz world than just the one bitter orange aperitif.

The spritz is a no-brainer summer cocktail for a number of reasons. It’s an idiot-proof formula the novice bartender can’t really fuck up, and it goes down easier than most cocktails on your local speakeasy’s menu. Here are a handful (er, pitcherful) to keep in your back pocket for the next time you need to impress your friends and quench your thirst this summer.

The White Spritz

Italians are kings of the aperitivo hour, and they know how to spritz. At Il Giardio Bar in Rome, the white spritz has become a signature cocktail with its intense citrus fragrance with delicate floral notes. “A good spritz has to be the perfect aperitif, both refreshing and sparkling and possibly with a typical Italian citrus,” says Gabriele Rizzi, the Il Giardio bar manager. What works in Rome will definitely work at your next backyard barbecue. If you want to really go all the way, garnish the cocktail with an ice cube made from orange juice.

The White Spritz
3/4 oz Solerno liqueur
3/4 oz Franciacorta (or prosecco, if you can't find it)
3/4 oz Luxardo Bianco bitter

Pour ingredients into a wine glass filled with ice.

Gen Tonic

No, it’s not a typo: this is not a gin and tonic, but a spritz that calls for French aperitifs Bonal and Gentiane. (And yes, you can pronounce them in your most annoying accent when you serve this drink.) “Bonal brings sweetness and herbal flavors, and Gentiane brings this earthy flavor that I love,” says Juliette Larrouy, bartender at Le Syndicat in Paris. “It’s super fresh, bitter, and low in alcohol.” That low ABV means you can toss many of these back all day long, feeling very French in the process.

Gen Tonic
3/4 oz Bonal
1 1/5 oz Gentiane
Tonic

Pour ingredients into a glass filled with ice. Top off with tonic. Garnish with a strip of lemon zest.

Raspberry Negroni Sbagliato

A spritz isn’t supposed to dominate your taste buds the way an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan might—it’s supposed to provide a breath of fresh air on a hot day, a brief respite from the hot sun. The Raspberry Negroni Sbagliato is just that sort of drink. “It should be something you’d crush on a sunny day at the beach, or—as someone once told me—something I’d drink at the gym,” says Jacob Racusin, co-owner and bar manager of The Snug in San Francisco. Racusin gives a go-to classic extra depth by infusing Campari with fresh raspberries (one clamshell of raspberries per liter of Campari) for two weeks before mixing it with Punt e Mes, an Italian vermouth, and some dry sparkling wine. While he recommends using the best raspberries you can find for your infusion, he does not recommend using Dom Perignon to top off the cocktail. “I wouldn’t go and mix a $100 bottle of Champagne In this cocktail,” he says. “The sparkling wine’s purpose in any Sbagliato or spritz is to both give it effervescence, body and to dilute the other spirits to a palatable level.” So go with your local wine store’s eleven dollar prosecco, and call it a day.

Raspberry Negroni Sbagliato
1 1/2 oz Raspberry Campari (see below)
1 oz Punt e Mes vermouth
Sparkling wine

Pour ingredients into a glass filled with ice. Top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a strip of orange peel.

For the Raspberry Campari:
1 container raspberries
1 bottle (750 ml) Campari

In a large sealed container, steep berries in the Campari for two weeks.