Just call Me Hugo: Hugo spritz

When I’m thinking of a drink for when the mercury nears a fiery 40°C, a Hugo Spritz cocktail comes to mind. If you don’t completely love the bitter taste of an Apérol spritz, then a Hugo spritz, made with slightly sweet and floral elderflower liqueur, could be a better sipper. It’s also just a little bit fancy.

Along with the elderflower liqueur, prosecco adds bubbles and brightness and soda water keeps everything crisp and easy to drink. Usually finished with fresh mint and lime, it tastes quite fresh rather than boozy – the kind of drink you can sip slowly on a warm afternoon.

Making this cocktail also incredibly approachable. There are no complicated ratios, no specialist bar skills, and it’s very easy to adjust to suit everyone’s taste. Light, fragrant and effortlessly drinkable, the Hugo spritz is this summer’s drink to covet.

Who invented the Hugo spritz?

The Hugo Spritz was dreamt up in 2005 in northern Italy’s South Tyrol region by bartender Roland Gruber at the San Zeno bar in the town of Naturno. He created it as a lighter, more floral option to the classic Apérol Spritz, originally using lemon balm syrup before swapping to elderflower syrup (and later elderflower liqueur) as the key flavour in the cocktail.

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Just call Me Hugo: Hugo spritz

Recipe by Food and Vine

5.0 from 1 vote

Course: CocktailsCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy as

Prep time

5

minutes

Makes

2

cocktails

Start by chilling the glasses (wide rimmed wine glasses work well) and having some chilled Prosecco and ice ready to go.

Cook Mode

Stop your screen from snoozing (zzz)

Ingredients

Metric US

• Ice cubes, to chill

• 80 ml 3 fl oz Elderflower liqueur

• 120 ml 4 fl oz Prosecco

• 120 ml 4 fl oz sparkling water

• 4 4 mint leaves

• 2 2 lemon slices, halved, to serve (see notes)

Method

• Fill 2 glasses with ice cubes.
• Pour 40ml elderflower liqueur in each glass, followed by 60ml Prosecco and 60ml sparkling water.
• Add 2 mint leaves to each glass and 2 lemon slice halves. Stir gently to combine the flavours.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

• Feel free to swap the lemon slices for lime slices.
• I really enjoy the ratios in this cocktail, but you are welcome to play around with them until you reach your desired flavour. Some people add a lot more mint, for example.
• It’s important to stir gently so that you don’t pop all the carbonated bubbles.

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