Grab a Binge Outdoors With a Simple Summer Drink
Summer drink is the funnest kind of drink, and spritz may be the summer drink. They are light, bright, very easy to drink and endlessly delicious. They are also very easy to make, which would be helpful if you had a couple.
Spritz is made up of three ingredients: sparkling wine, bitter liquor, and soda, which have a base ratio of 3: 2: 1, according to Aperol.com , or 2: 2: 1, like me. If you plan on having a serious drink during the day, you can always skip the liquor and champagne and add soda, as you are not required to follow any strict proportions. Now let’s talk about bottles.
Liquor up
This is the most important decision you will make on your splash adventure, as the liquor will determine the main flavor of your drink. It’s also my favorite ingredient to play with, and crafting a new spritzer recipe based on new amaro or vermouth is a delightful experience.
- Aperol and Campari : Although they are two different liqueurs, it is difficult to talk about one without talking about the other, and I think that Aperol is almost a “light Campari”. Aperol is a good classic choice, it has a great citrus, rhubarb-bitter aftertaste. Aperol is sweeter and slightly more “summer” than Campari, but it is about half the alcohol (11% versus about 20%). Campari reads a little darker and grassier, and definitely a lot more bitter, but that’s what I like and think it makes a great, very nutritious spritz.
- Cynar : Moving away from the two rosé varieties, we have Cynar, a liqueur with a predominantly artichoke flavor and 16.5% ABV. Don’t let the “artichoke” scare you; it reads more like “forest” than “vegetable garden”. It has a bittersweet taste similar to Campari, but lacks the bitter orange flavor. This will definitely be your least fruity, albeit highly aromatic and complex option.
- Saint-Germain : It’s really summer now. This elderberry liqueur is sweet, floral and slightly syrupy. Thus, it goes very well with dry sparkling wine on the bone. Plus, the bottle is very pretty and putting it on the shelf will make you feel like a very fashionable adult.
- Bigallet China China : Let me introduce you to my new favorite thing. This French liqueur is made from a combination of sweet and bitter oranges, as well as anise, gentian, chin, cloves and other plant parts. It is a very heavy orange peel, but balanced with warm herbal notes and a little bitterness. It’s pretty darn delicious and makes a really interesting drink.
- Vermouth : Let’s not forget about our new BFF vermouth . Sweet or dry, red or white, almost any quality vermouth will be a good syringe, depending on your preference. The Carpano Antica Formula has some nice vanilla notes to sing like a stream, and obviously I love the bittersweet miracle of Punt e Mes in everything.
- Lillet : This aperitif wine is made with Bordeaux grapes and macerated fruits (mostly oranges) and has a fruity but not cloying taste, perfect for summer drinking. Adding Lillet to your spritzer will mean you double the amount of wine, but there is nothing even slightly wrong with that.
But liqueur is just one of the ingredients in a liquor, my friends. We still need to discuss wine.
Spark time
Since the syringe is Italian, prosecco will be the obvious choice, but French champagne, Spanish cava, or any bubbly wine will do. Since you’re going to mix it with super flavored alcohol and dilute it with carbonated water, I wouldn’t recommend buying a super pretty bottle, but aim for a bottle in the $ 10 to $ 15 range. My best advice on how to choose a bottle of champagne for this kind of thing is to go up to the person running the wine aisle and say, “I need wine for the champagne,” and let them pick one for you. It helps if you know which liquor you will be using too.
Of most mushrooms, I like La Marca as it’s fresh, dry, usually around twelve dollars, and available in most parts of the country. For something truly fruity and fun, grab a bottle of Pommery Pink Pop Champagne Rosé Extra Dry. It’s a little funny, but very wallet-friendly.
Now that we’ve covered the two alcoholic components of the spritzer, let’s move on to slightly less addictive water.
Dilution factor
You might think there isn’t much here. How many different ways to add soda to your drink? Not bad, it turns out. Here are a few of my favorite ways to add sparkling hydration to a summer drink.
- Gerolsteiner : Look, there’s nothing wrong with taking some Canadian seltzer water and ending this business, but I find the invigorating minerality and deliciously aggressive carbonation in Gerolsteiner very refreshing.
- La Croix : I’m one of those crazy La Croix people whose only source of hydration is La Croix, usually grapefruit. I don’t like their simple dishes – they seem oddly sweet to me – but I love most of their other flavors. (Yes, even a coconut that resembles sunscreen.) Since La Croix contains only fruit “essence” and does not contain sugar, they are a good way to add some subtle fruity flavor without overloading or weighing down the drink.
- Soda: I’m not talking about Sprite. I’m talking about fancy soda. I love the ginger spritz, and Cock ‘n’ Bull is my favorite way to add a ton of ginger flavor to any alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) drink. Soda pops , which contain much less sugar than “regular” pop, are highly acidic and balanced, and have many interesting flavors such as lavender, cucumber and rhubarb.
Of course, you can always just buy a two-liter bottle of seltzer water for less than a dollar. Nobody will blame you for this.
Putting it all together
Now, despite the fact that all of the above can go into a spritz, it should never be in one syringe. I cannot give you a recipe for every potential syringe you could create, but I can give you recipes for those that I find particularly delicious. The build for everyone is pretty much the same; Take some rocks or a large, pretty wine glass, fill it with ice and add sparkling wine, soda, and still liqueur. If you add the ingredients in that order, the denser liquor sinks to the bottom and mixes with the rest of the drink, causing it to mix automatically.
- Classic Campari Spritz : 2 oz Prosecco + 1 oz sparkling water + 2 oz Campari, garnish with some zest or citrus wedge. I like the large stripe of lemon zest, the oils rubbed around the rim of the glass.
- Elderberry Spritz : 3 ounces of dry sparkling wine + 1 ounce of soda + 1 ounce of Saint-Germain, garnish with a pie, seasonal fruit such as blackberries, or something floral such as a lavender sprig.
- Aperol Rosé Spritz: 2 oz dry to semi-dry sparkling rosé wine + 1 oz La Croix grapefruit + 2 oz Aperol, garnish with grapefruit zest.
- Carpano Antica Spritz: 2 oz Prosecco + 1 oz sparkling water + 2 oz Carpano Antica, garnish with a little lemon.
Hopefully this will keep your gear spinning and you can come up with enough spray to last the whole summer. Just remember not to take the sprite too seriously. Like the drink itself, the process of making them should be bright, effervescent and sunny.