Welcome to Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Aperol Spritz!
Welcome to Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Aperol Spritz!
Best. Summer. Drink. Ever.
Matthew Hooper
Jul 18, 2025
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This drink absolutely glows in the sunlight.
Greetings, Wonketeers! I’m Hooper, your bartender. Let’s turn our attention to a summer classic, a beautiful low-proof sparkler that’s wildly popular with the country club set. Time to make an Aperol Spritz. Here’s the recipe:
Aperol Spritz
1 ½ oz. Aperol
3-4 oz. Prosecco sparkling wine
Soda water
Orange wheel for garnish
Fill a white wine glass with crushed ice. Add Aperol to the glass. Slowly add the Prosecco until the bubbles reach the rim of the glass. Let the bubbles settle, then add soda water to fill. Garnish with an orange wheel.
Northern Italians have been fortifying their bubbly with a little something for more than a century. Back when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a thing, adding a splash (or “spritz” in German) of sparkling water to your beverage was all the rage. Aperol itself was invented in 1919, and the Aperol Spritz dates back to the ‘50s. When Campari bought Aperol in 2000, they marketed the snot out of the Aperol Spritz. If you buy a bottle of Aperol, it’s pretty much assumed that you’re making spritzes with it. The label on the bottle provides a color guide, instructing you on the exact hue of a proper Aperol Spritz. It’s hard to argue with the success of Campari’s efforts. Aperol spritzes are everywhere these days.
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It helps that Aperol Spritzes are really great drinks, despite some snobbish opinions to the contrary. In 2019, Rebekah Peppler wrote an article for the NYT titled “The Aperol Spritz Is Not A Good Drink”. Ms. Peppler is a James Beard nominee; her book on apertifs was outstanding. However, it’s safe to say that her opinion was not popular. Many, many people leaped to the defense of the Aperol Spritz. Ms. Peppler is a wonderful author, but I don’t see “bartender” on her resume, which I consider telling. When you’re behind the stick, you never tell a customer that they’re drinking the wrong drink. Granted, you can and should try other spritzes, which was the actual point of Ms. Peppler’s article. A few years back, the Negroni Sbagliato was popular on TikTok – basically, a Negroni that swapped Prosecco for gin. We’re running a St. Germain and lychee syrup spritz at the country club bar right now. A straight-up Campari Spritz is bracingly bitter and high proof, just the way I like my cocktails in 2025. But never, ever yuck someone else’s yum.
I love Aperol for the summer. The bittersweet orange liquor is surprisingly versatile and comforting. I’ve infused Aperol with serrano peppers and banana before, and I expect I’ll find more uses for it in the future. Much like orange bitters, I find Aperol’s bitter citrus flavor cooperates with all sorts of cocktails and is a great base spirit for infusions. As long as summertime is here, Aperol is going to live on the rail of my bar.
Let’s talk ingredients:
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Ingredient shot. So, so tasty.
Aperol: Accept no substitutes. I’ve got a knockoff bottle of “Aperol” in my liquor cabinet, and it tastes like it. The real thing is a touch pricey, but it’s worth every penny. The color of Aperol is just as important as the flavor; a solid Aperol Spritz absolutely glows in the sunshine. A bottle of Aperol might be the best liquor purchase you can make in the summer.
Prosecco: Ms. Peppler’s real beef with Aperol Spritzes was that they use cheap Prosecco as an ingredient. Ms. Peppler resides in Paris, and I’m sure she can find lots of good sparkling wine there. Out in northeast Ohio, I’ll settle for splits of Martini & Rossi. If you are a fan of good bubbly and have an open bottle lurking in the fridge, this is a great way to use it. It will undoubtedly improve your drink. But don’t let the snobs ruin your day. Cheap, sweet sparkling wine will still make for a lovely cocktail.
Soda Water: Club soda is fine. The sparkling water lengthens the cocktail and boosts the fizz of the champagne; I try to add the soda at the very last minute before service, so there’s still a head of foam on the drink when it arrives at the customer’s table. This is, all things told, a rather low proof drink. Aperol is only 22 proof, not much more than the champagne – another great reason to sip a few on the patio.
Garnish: It’s not a proper Aperol Spritz without the orange slice. The slice of fresh orange perfumes the cocktail and emphasizes the orange flavor of the Aperol perfectly.
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