Latest / Into The Barchive / The Aperol Spritz — Italy’s Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail
Transcript
- ITB: To the bark where the past comes alive. Fribe. Ship the tails, let them dive. Welcome to the Barkhive. Welcome in, Barkhavists, to this week's episode of Into the Barkhive, where this week we're doing a very refreshing classic yet modern Dapperol Sprints. Yeah, I mean every cocktail has a story, and sometimes it's a story about a bartender or a city or a moment in history or an ingredient that changed everything. But sometimes it's just a story about how a simple drink becomes a ritual. Something people return to day after day, generation after generation. And of course, today we're talking about the one of the most recognizable drinks in the world. The after all spritz. I g I can tell you what. The moment that you say the name, immediately in my mind, I see the large wine glass with that red, you know, that rubyish orange kind of hue that's just refreshing and is a staple to consume while having a great conversation. Yeah, and I mean The Aperol Spritz is more than just a pretty cocktail. It's deeply connected to this cultural ritual in Italy known as apertivo. Yes, sir. The daily moment, like you're describing, is slow down, have conversation, gather with friends, and ease into the evening. Yeah, there the I think we here in the States have a different approach to happy hour. as the Europeans do to Apertivo. ⁓ and that we'll definitely get into that today. So let's talk we're going to talk about the culture. Yeah, that we'll talk about the culture of Apertivo, the history of the spritz itself, and why this incredibly simple drink has become a global phenomenon. Along the way we'll make two drinks. Okay. So first The classic Aferol spritz. ⁓ yes, sir. Built in the traditional Venetian style. And then we're going to make something very different. A rift, one would say. A rift known as the spaghetti. A drink that takes the same basic idea and reimagines it in a bottle of Miller High Life. So, one drink from Northern Italy and one drink from a dive bar. So in today's episode, we're gonna head to the bar. Let's get mixing. Let's do it. We're gonna begin by making the classic Aperol spritz. So first take a nice ⁓ globe, large wine-shaped glass. ⁓ it could have a larger stem than this. It could be just a traditional wine glass out of your cabinet, whatever works from you. But again, something with a stem, a large balloon shape. From there We're going to start with some sparkling wine. I have a sparkling brute from France made in the method champenois. You could use a prosecco, a kava, whatever sort of sparkling wine you have on hand. From there, we're going to do three ounces of our sparkling wine. A lot of people, when they think about an Aperol spritz, they think two, three, one. I like doing three, two, one. You're welcome. Yep, that's Tim was the one who introduced me to that method. Because if you add the sparkling wine in first, because of the sugar content in the Aperol, it's going to sink. And so this way it more effectively combines. So I've got my three ounces of sparkling wine. Now two ounces of Aperol. And so you're gonna watch as this goes in, it quickly kind of combines with sparkling wine. And then the final step is an ounce of club soda. And this just again helps lengthen the cocktail. And then from there we're going to add an orange slice along the way. And then we have our classic Aperol spritz. And for our second cocktail, we have the dive bar, the spaghetti. This should be a simple one for you to try at your house, especially if you don't have a bottle of sparkling wine. But I'm pretty sure most of you have access to some kind of light beer, especially maybe a Miller High Life. Fairly simple way to make this cocktail. First, you have to do crack open your bottle. Step one is complete. Well, now I can't pour anything in there because it's already full, so I guess I have to make some room. Cheers. That's about enough room. Now we build in bottle. We're going to take one ounce, or if you're feeling a little spicy or want something sweeter, go a little heavier. But at least one ounce of Aperol. And notice at this point in time I'm using the angle jigger. And I'm gonna take a moment and pause because we have had some comments about the jiggers that we use. And yes, every episode so far, and every episode probably moving forward, we will always use what we call an angle jigger. While there are other styles of jigger, like a Japanese jigger, there's a time, a purpose, and sometimes just an art form. For using different types of ⁓ types of jigger. For a home bar though, an angled jigger just works best. Specifically for this cocktail, too. If I were trying to pour into that bottle, it doesn't have the spout to allow me to go. At this point in time, I would now step off my soapbox and return to the regularly scheduled program of making the spaghetti. But using the angled jigger, one ounce of Aferol into our highlight and now. Adding a little bit of citrus, unlike in the Aperol spritz. I'm gonna go about a quarter of an ounce of fresh lemon juice. If you want it to to pop or have a little bit more of that citrus acidity, go go ahead, do a half ounce, three-quarters of an ounce. The world is your oyster, but I want a little bit, think of like taking that corona and adding that lime wedge in it. Same thing that I'm doing right here, but on this part. Now it's started to already mix together. You can see some of the fizz already coming through on the back side. But just to make sure that it gets incorporated, good firm foam on top. Tip her over. Now you're building up some pressure, so don't immediately pull it off. Slightly give it a spritz. And now we have our spaghetti. Now that we've built the cocktails, let's build the context. The apertivo culture. Well, in Italy, particularly the northern regions, there's a daily ritual that happens between five and eight in the evening. Takes place after work, before dinner, known as apertivo. Yeah, and the word itself comes from the Latin aperire, meaning to open. Yes, it's ⁓ it An apertif, again, it's before dinner, it's supposed to prepare the digestive system for what's to come, right? Yeah, it's opening the appetite. Okay. But apertivo is more than just about appetite. It's about slowing down. I I I see that. if I had my way, you know, that northern Italian culture is where I would like to reside, right? That's Many of my wife's deny our vacations is in that region. It just sits well with the way that we want to live a life. Yeah. I mean, you meet friends, you stand at a bar or sit in a piazza, you order something light and refreshing. And oftentimes what you're doing is you're paying for the drink, but the snack plate is included in the price. Yeah. Many a times it's You pay the five, eight, ten euro for the cocktail and you get they'll either serve you one or two plates of something, or it's hell, there's sometimes that it's back to the old buffet style. Like you go and you choose one to five items that they would put served to you on a plate and then you take back and then it again it's more about you're nothing but still taking time. I mean, ⁓ f it was what, five to eight? Sometimes even earlier than that, but that's three plus hours where at most of the time here in the States, that's like early bird special and most people have already started either had that or are finishing their meal and ready for bed by that time. Yeah. Well, and unlike the American happy hour, which often includes like heavier deep fried appetizers, things mozzarella sticks and onion rings and wings. That you know, in many ways could make an entire meal. The Italian apertivo hour includes like light salty snacks, chips, olives, nuts, breadsticks, maybe some cured meats and cheeses, or a crustini with slice of meat or some tin fish, right? You know, instead of like pasta or a bigger meal, it it's just very light bites. Again, light, it's supposed to prepare. Prepare for a dinner that's to come later on, not fried and heavy, which is already going to damper and maybe take up extra room that you would have had for that meal. Yeah, and the drinks themselves in apertivo culture follow a particular philosophy. Lower in alcohol, they're refreshing, and a little bitter. And ⁓ this bitterness really isn't accidental at all. ⁓ bitterness has often been associated with digestion and appetite stimulation, right? And this is why a lot of apertivo drinks are built around bitter liqueurs and fortified wines. I I mean, I I think we've talked about this before that our bodies react to bitter flavors. It almost assumes that it's I think you've said in a previous episode, like poison, like the body goes, Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not supposed to so it like it goes into this overdrive to try to protect itself and thus mm preparing for more to come. Yeah, so it stimulates the digestion ⁓ because it thinks it's poison. And a lot of these apertivo cocktails have apertivo liqueurs like an aparel, a compare, ⁓ a lot of different amari. And you know, these are the things that come before dinner. So ⁓ we we talk about ⁓ of course Aperol is going to be the the focus of today and we're talking about how it is a key player in this apertivo environment. ⁓ but with apart the app Aperol as the base ingredient here, you mentioned Campare. there Hugo Spritz uses that, you know, ⁓ elder flower liqueur most of the time, Saint Germain, right? Of some sort. ⁓ but they're they're all parts of some kind of classic example of what cocktails could be in this time frame, this app apertivo time frame. So what, this includes the Americano? Yeah, so the Americano, so Campari and sweet vermouth with soda water. Heck you could just have a Camparian soda or maybe vermouth on ice. See, going from northern Italy, let's roll back to Spain, if I want a cheaper version of that what I would consider relax style. Their aperitivo is my bread and butter. Mot not so much I would say anybody else in our family profile, you know. But I'm great with drinking vermouth straight and having warm olives. Yeah, two two glasses of house vermouth and a plate of warm olives for eight euro and I'm set? Yes, sir. Get me in. Yep. Well, and I mean In this culture, you see apertivo drinks and spritzes everywhere. Yes, sir. Groups of friends just standing around outside bars with bright orange glasses in their hands, chatting as the evening slowly unfolds. And in many ways, if we look at it in that context, the Aperol Spritz is not merely a cocktail, it's part of the daily rhythm of life. And I hope I don't break into some of your ⁓ contact a little bit later, but the Aperol Sprints goes from something that's very ⁓ cost effective in certain regions to if you're going to the ⁓ like a Mafi Coast or if you're going to cut like Lake Como area where it becomes a very expensive luxury because of the ⁓ I guess image, the personification of what it represents, correct? Yeah, I mean Definitely there can be a price differential. I mean, per of it is like the socioeconomic division of Italy where the north is wealthier, the south tends to be poorer, gotcha, and things like that as well. So, as I asked that question, let's dive into the history of what a spritz is then. Yeah, so the spritz long predates Aperol. Okay. Okay, so in the 19th century. Large parts of northern Italy, including the Veneto region, were under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Austrian soldiers and administrators in these regions encountered the local wines, which were often stronger than what they were used to back home. So their solution was simple. They asked for the wine to be diluted with a splash of water. Of course. And the German word spritzen means to spray or to splash, and that's where we get spritz from. Yep. So originally a spritz was a wine with a splash of water. Yep. Over time, the still water was replaced with sparkling water, which added this refreshing effervescence to the drink. And by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the drink had evolved into something we Are into something closer we might recognize today. Wine lengthened with soda or like a wine spritz. A wine spritz, yep. And then the next major development comes, and that's the rise of Italian apertivo liqueurs. In the early 1900s, a number of bitter liqueurs were developed specifically for pre-dinner drinking. Among them was Aperol, which was created in nineteen nineteen by the Barbieri brothers. And Aperol is distinct in a few ways. So it has the bright orange color. Yep. ⁓ and you know that makes it very recognizable. Its alcohol ⁓ is very low. Yeah eleven percent. Yeah, so super low in ABV. Its flavor profile is Bitter orange, rhubarb, herbs, a touch of vanilla. But the thing is, is although Aperol seems everywhere today, for decades it was largely a regional product. But eventually bartenders began combining it with the spritz formula of wine and soda, which led us to the drink we know as the Ackerol Spritz. So now we we take the wine and soda and we add a little extra booze, which at times could be lower ABV than the wine that was being used or at other points. It could be higher than the wine. Matters what. But most of the time it would have been lower, but still adding these like herbal complexities to what that wine would have been. Yeah. Fast forward. So If we think about before the 2000s, the Aperol Spritz is mostly a regional drink. If you were in Venice or Padua or elsewhere in the Veneto, you would see plenty of spritzes, but a lot of them weren't made with Aperol. No. So in Venice especially, people prefer the Select Spritz. Yes, and there is a brand, a bottle very similar that looks like this that says instead of Aperol across, the brand is called SELECT. Yeah, and that was the brand from Venice. So it's like every region in Italy had their Amaro, they had their Apertivo, and so it was a very regional drinking culture. But in 2003, Aperol is acquired by the Compuri group. And so they aggressively marketed Aperol around the world. The and part of what Campuri did was they realized the drink wasn't just a cocktail. It's a lifestyle ritual. So instead of marketing Aperol as a spirit to have on the back bar, like, ⁓ I'd like an Apirol with da-da-da, they marketed the Aperol Spritz experience, emphasizing outdoor cafes, groups of friends, late afternoon sunlight, and the bright orange glow of the drink in a large wine glass. And if you think about sunlight Aperol spritzes were everywhere. Rooftop bars, beach resorts, brunch menus, Instagram feeds. The Aperol Spritz is super Instagramable. So ⁓ individuals when they go to like an all-inclusive resort or they go on like cruises that have the the the beer or wine pack the drink package, right? At times those bars don't always have the right mixers, right? They may have great ingredients of like spirits, but they might not have the best things to actually make specific great cocktails. Almost every time, though, these same places have a sparkling wine and they have Aperol. You can pound Aperol spritzes and not feel crappy by the end of the day, as long as you're one-in-one hydrating, because low ABV. With the Prosecco or the Cobb, as long as they're using a decent brand of sparkling something of another, right? you can make sure that you have a great refreshing cocktail by the poolside or on the beach. Or if we're in the south on our back porch or patio in the hot summer days, and still feel like I'm being refreshed and elevated ever so slightly. ⁓ yeah, and part of the success of Aperol is to the easy formula three, two, one, right? It's on the back of the bottle, right? Yep. That's a key part of the success. They ⁓ as part of the marketing campaign, pushed out like branded glass where these nice orange umbrellas for outdoor seating that kind of mesh with that apertivo lifestyle, and they Train bartenders in this super specific 321 formula so the drinks look consistent everywhere. Again, they're gorgeous. Social media's amplifying the effect with this color that just photographs so beautifully. And as we we keep talking about the 321, or again, my my the reason it's 321, not 231. It is 321. Prosecco go the sparkling wine. Traditionally it is sparkling wine. Prosecco because it is from Italy. So therefore, let's call that piece out real quick. However, you don't always have access to Prosecco, or for you may prefer a cava or sparkling line or even a champagne over dealer's choice. But the three does go first. It does balance a little bit. I'll get off the soapbox again. But 321 is easy to remember and therefore it's easily replicable. Like A bartender can do that easy. I can tell that patron, easy, go home three two one. And now vloggers and Instagrammers and all these in individuals can now do the same thing and it looks the t the same time after time after time. Yeah, and so what once was a regional Italian aperativo became a global icon of summer drinking, whether you're in New York. Barcelona, Sydney, you'll probably see the bright orange glass glowing on a patio somewhere. Okay, so let's now talk about it today. Okay. As I take my sip. Yeah, so I mean, if we think about the structure of the Aperol spritz, it's super clean formula, the bitter apertivo, the sparkling wine, the touch of soda. Okay. Aperol provides the bitterness. Yep. Citrus flavor, sweetness, color. Color definitely. Like again, there's flavor coming from the sparkling wine, mm-hmm, right? But the color and the bitter, the those flavors are the like y you don't have an Aperol spritz without that ingredient. Yeah, and then you balance it with the Prosecco, which provides acidity, brightness. ⁓ bubbles, dryness, and the soda water just gives it that extra little lift and a little dilution to keep the drink light and refreshing. Yeah, it's epervescence and then epervescence more. Just no ABV eperves. Yeah. And and so again, as you kind of alluded to earlier, this formula is adaptable. You can swap Aferol for Kimpari to get a deeper, more bitter spritz, also one little higher in ABV. You can use chinar, the artichokamaro, and your drink becomes earthier and darker. Add elder flower liqueur and mint and you get the Hugo Spritz, another modern favorite, but the structure's the same. Bitter bubbles dilution. And I I love the fact that we bring up those four, right? Because we go from bitter to bitter err to that chinar? Again. If people have that by itself, they don't know what the heck they're expecting. Like there are people that love an Aperol spritz, but you give them a capari spritz and all bets are off. It's too dry, too bitter, too out of their range. Put the Channar in there, and good lord, they have no chance. But almost as we all had to start drinking somewhere, I think Aperol is the gateway into the other versions of the spritz. Sans Hugo. I think the Hugo is the spritz on training wheels. When I introduce new friends to a spritz, it's I will introduce them to the Hugo Spritz before I do after all. Because again, bitter is not a flavor profile that most people enjoy until they've worked themselves up to it. But the Hugo Spritz definitely is that sweeter, mintier, you know, more. refreshing thing, honey-ish that they may go into from that elder flower liqueur. And then slowly start to introduce them to april. And then my favorite way to then move people up gradually is to do a 50-50. Yeah. And then do half base Aperol, half base compare before you completely go to the Kampari because Aperl is a little bit sweeter, right? It's definitely less bitter, but it's definitely more sweeter than the Kapare. Yeah, I mean the sweetness offsets the better. So as you start to training will people, you just slowly introduce them and before you know it, we're gonna have a patron of individuals drinking Chinar spritzes. ⁓ and well and and then ⁓ going in a different direction is, you know, if people think the Afril spritz, they're not wine, people maybe think this is a little too pretentious. Is you go with a spaghetti, right? This drink was introduced by Wet City Brewing in Baltimore, Maryland, and it became a popular bartender's drink. Yeah. I mean, think about it. A for most individuals, if if they're going to buy a bottle of Proseco Kava, sparkling wine, yada yada yada, outside of Andre, let's get some of the headache sparkling stuff out of the way. But I would say a better brand that's not going to leave me with a hangover the day after, right? It's cheaper for me to buy a six pack of High Life and open up one bottle than it is for me to buy one bottle of Prosecco sparkling, whatever. And then either it loses carbonation because I don't have the right stoppers stoppers to keep it, you know, secured for the day, two days or whatever. This was a great approach and as a fan of Aperol, I think it's a t a great tongue in cheek approach to it. Like I don't feel like I'm getting gypped by switching it out. I think I'm having like a fun tug in cheek play on when I make a version of it like that. Well, I mean, if we think about it in terms of the template, you swap out the sparkling wine and the Aperol spritz for the champagne of beers. I did. Miller High Life. I've never I've never thought of it like that. But yeah, you're right. So I mean it's perfect. One for one swap there. So and I mean if you think about it, Miller High Life, it's light, it's crisp, very carbonated, ⁓ that works well in a spritz sort of format. Yeah, the carbonation was very evidence when you throw your thumb over it, do it a little toss, like toss in the bottle. And then the foaming extra, I mean you get to see a think when you pop and somebody pops a champagne bottle and it fizzes over. That's the that's the visual you're supposed to have. Yeah, and I think most of all the spaghetti proves that cocktails can be fun. Yeah, they don't have to like cocktails can be serious, but they don't have to be. They just need to be good. Yeah. And it and it shows kind of the whole like highbrow, lowbrow kind of approach to bartending. It's taking you know what people might do in a trendy rooftop bar and bring it to a dive bar, but like elevating the dive bar culture, but at this and providing an excellent drinking experience. Again, you can take classic ideas, take spirits and elaborate techniques, and mix them up with a cheap bottle of beer and come away with a fantastic beer cocktail. The Aperol Spritz has become probably the most recognizable drink in the world. If I were to take this this drink and place it in front of a group of individuals and say, What is it? They would probably say Aperol Spritz before they said Campare or any other. They would call it that specify just because of color, the glass, the the the a garnish of the orange half moon inside of it. Like it is definitely I would say the most recognizable overall cocktail around the world, but its success isn't really about complexity. Again, three basic ingredients poured like a highball. Mm-hmm. But it's about context. Yeah, coming out of that specific culture of slowing down at the end of the day, gathering with friends, and enjoying something like before dinner. You know, it's simple, the ingredients are accessible, the ABV is low enough, where it invites conversation and doesn't dominate it. So you you've told us to n ⁓ today that it's from the piazzas of ⁓ Venice, right, to the patios around the world, the spritz has really become a universal symbol of like chill, slow it down, relax, have time to social drink. Absolutely, is that sometimes all we need is a splash of bitterness, a little sparkle, and the right moment in the day to enjoy a nice drink. If you've enjoyed this episode, try making both versions of the drink at home. ⁓ from the classic Aperall spritz and the delightfully scrappy ⁓ spaghetti. One comes from more than a century of Italian aperitivo culture. And the other comes from the bartenders experimenting with whatever happens to be behind the bar. As always, as we in these episodes, we ask that you like, subscribe, hit those notification bells, whatever you have to do. ⁓ we're on Instagram and TikTok now, we're ⁓ YouTube. We've mentioned now for the last few episodes, we actually are every Thursday we are now releasing We didn't know that we were going to do it at the very beginning, but I think we're in a good stride. Every Thursday, we're going to come to you with a brand new episode of Into the Barchive. And then ⁓ if you want to, give us some comments back always, either on one of those social medias or send us an email to podcast at Into the Pot ⁓ Barchive.com for the next episode. Well ⁓ we're working through our schedule for the summer and we ⁓ anticipate doing some tiki and tropical sorts of drinks, so just like tiki bars can sometimes be mysterious, we're gonna leave you hanging before our next episode. Until next time though, keep exploring the past. One drink at a time. On Into the Barcock.