The sunshine-hued Aperol spritz is the year’s most fashionable drink.
Vogue gave it the seal of approval in June, around the same time GQ crowned it the season’s “most refreshing cocktail.”
Traditionally made with its namesake herbal-citrus liqueur, prosecco and soda, the Aperol spritz is getting a range of interesting riffs around town.
The Bennett, in Tribeca, is going big with carafes, most notably the Strawberry Letter, which dresses up the traditional Aperol spritz with rosé and strawberry shrub.
In the Meatpacking District, Mario Carbone’s Santina is whirring up the slushie-like Santina Spritz, with blood-orange juice and mint. Midtown’s Sen Sakana, a Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant, classes up the cocktail with an eye-catching spherical ice cube. And Rahi, in the Village, marries raspberry-infused Aperol with fresh strawberries, a sprig of basil and piquant ginger beer.
Spritzes with similar flavor profiles are gaining traction, too. The Sosta — a cute fast-casual Italian eatery that has become a favorite among city fashionistas — makes its spritzes with Cappelletti, another herbal Italian aperitif. And Cecconi’s Dumbo has no fewer than four spritzes on the menu.
How did this simple aperitif, once synonymous with chic imbibing in Venice, become the city’s It drink?
The trending status seems to have taken root in 2014, with clever marketing aimed at day-drinking millennials.
That’s the year Aperol parent company Campari launched a campaign centered on boozy brunches.
Calling the late-morning meal “a lifestyle,” the campaign invited social-media users to apply for the position of Aperol’s “chief brunch officer.”
Job description: Take your friends out for brunch, get sloshed on spritzes and use the hashtag #brunchforaliving. In exchange, Aperol would pick up the tab.
Aperol’s sales skyrocketed by 45 percent as a result, Digiday reports.
Three years ago, Lower East Side bar NiteCap opened with a full spritz menu. And by 2016, the drink was cropping up at chic downtown Italian restaurants (Dante at Genuine, Sessanta, La Sirena) and cocktail bars such as Williamsburg’s Donna, where it’s on tap.
To add to the beverage’s cred, Ten Speed Press recently published “Spritz,” by Talia Baiocchi and Leslie Pariseau, a recipe-studded historical deep dive that was nominated for a prestigious James Beard Book Foundation Award.
Dante at Genuine and Santina have no plans to remove their spritzes from the menus this fall. NiteCap, meanwhile, has rolled out an autumnal version: the Magic Moment, which uses beet-infused Aperol.
At Fashion Week hot spot Public Hotel, the fizzy beverage will flow like water — “of course,” says a rep. New York’s well-heeled celebrants wouldn’t party any other way.