How to Upgrade Your Spritz This Summer

You know how they say we only use 10 percent of our brains? It turns out that isn’t really accurate. But that quotient of potential truthfully applies to the spritz. Most of us use Aperol or Campari, and then we stop exploring. Yet there’s a whole world of liqueurs out there with a lot of flavor to offer, from honey to cola, artichoke to baking spice—and you can make a spritz with any of them.

The beauty of this cocktail is its simplicity and versatility. No matter what liqueur you’re using, the formula is always the same: 3 oz. dry sparkling wine (like cava or prosecco) to 2 oz. liqueur to 1 oz. soda water. Easy to remember! 3, 2, 1. Plus ice and a garnish, of course, to honor Italy’s most refreshing contribution to the season of summer.

Below, we pulled together a list of easy-to-find, highly spritz-able amari and apertivi, in order from tame (sweeter, with simple flavors and minimal bitterness) to assertive (more bitter and complex). I’m digging a Zucca spritz with some orange and sage at the moment, but I’ll let you choose what lane you want to ride in.

Name: Aperol
Italian Region: Veneto
Flavor profile: Mandarin orange, cotton candy, and a hint of dried bitter orange peel
Who drinks it: People lounging next to resort pools, almost everyone else
Spritz Vibe: The Aperol spritz is the light lager of the spritz world, and that’s a compliment. Sometimes you just want to drink your drink, not unpack every intricate layer of flavor. The Aperol spritz is sweet, fruity, and refreshing.
Garnish: Lemon peel

Name: Amaro Montenegro
Italian Region: Emilia-Romagna
Flavor profile: Honeysuckle, rose, allspice, a bit of candied orange peel
Who drinks it: Those who are just brave enough to deviate from Aperol (Yay! Proud of you!)
Spritz Vibe: Amaro Montenegro is sweet, like Aperol, but it moves past the one-dimensional orange territory into deeper, more herbal flavors. We call Amaro Montenegro TSA, because it’s The Starter Amaro, guaranteed not to offend even the most hesitant amaro drinkers.
Garnish: Grapefruit peel and green olive

Name: Meletti
Italian Region: Le Marche
Flavor profile: Root beer, saffron, anise, dark chocolate
Who drinks it: Grown-ups who still go to candy stores
Spritz Vibe: If you were to drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a Meletti spritz, it probably wouldn’t suck. And that’s because a Meletti spritz—filled with syrupy sweetness and mildly spicy bark flavors—tastes a lot like root beer.
Garnish: Orange peel and green olive

Name: Averna
Italian Region: Sicily
Flavor profile: Cola, licorice, caramel
Who drinks it: Sicilians, people who want to be Sicilian, people who enjoy Coca-Cola
Spritz Vibe: The Averna Spritz has that ’90s-era Coca-Cola commercial vibe, covered in stylized condensation that screams REFRESHMENT. It’s a pure hit of nostalgia for a fountain soda—playfully carbonated, sweet like Haribo Happy Cola bottles, and ideally served next to a sandwich.
Garnish: Orange peel and green olive

Name: Vecchio Amaro Del Capo
Italian Region: Calabria
Flavor profile: Orange blossoms, chamomile, wild honey, peppermint
Who drinks it: People who wear espadrilles, your Nonna
Spritz Vibe: If you know what it feels like to walk down an old wooden boardwalk and end up with your feet in the sunny sand, you know how it feels to drink a Del Capo spritz: warm, light, and breezy, like where the land meets the sea.
Garnish: Lemon peel and celery leaves

Name: Campari
Italian Region: Piedmont
Flavor profile: Bitter orange, cinnamon, Luxardo cherry
Who drinks it: Negroni obsessives, spritz enthusiasts
Spritz Vibe: Campari is much more bitter, pronounced, and angular than Aperol. It’s still sweet with a citrusy backbone, but its bitterness balances with the sparkling wine better than most other amari. And you still get that photo-friendly pink-red-orange glow.
Garnish: Lemon peel

Name: Cynar
Italian Region: Piedmont
Flavor profile: Artichoke, green sugar cane, dandelion greens, raisins
Who drinks it: Bartenders, your uncle who went to Italy once and talks about how Americans will never understand “café culture”
Spritz Vibe: Cynar packs deep, vegetal flavor with a low ABV (16.5 percent). The bulk of its flavor is derived from artichokes, so a Cynar spritz ends up being slightly dirty but ultimately refreshing in the way a celery juice is refreshing—unfortunately without any of the health benefits. Unless you count the low-ABV.
Garnish: Grapefruit slice

Name: Rabarbaro Zucca
Italian Region: Lombardy
Flavor profile: Smoked rhubarb, molasses, cardamom, leather
Who drinks it: Cocktail maestros, mezcal freaks, backyard cookout pros
Spritz Vibe: This spritz is equal parts warm, woody, and smoky, with an undercurrent of what was once fresh green leaves. The bubbles brighten the whole thing up, turning what could have been a dark, smoky cocktail into one that makes for the perfect summer bonfire beverage.
Garnish: Orange peel and sage

Name: Braulio Bormio
Italian Region: Lombardy
Flavor profile: Pine, spearmint, juniper, hearty herbs
Who drinks it: People who enjoy hiking, gum chewers, lumberjacks
Spritz Vibe: A Braulio spritz is all about that Alpine, uh...pine needle flavor, like a Christmas tree, flanked by an army of forest herbs. Drinking one of these—especially when you get a menthol-like kiss of mint—is a nice reminder that cooler weather will once again come your way.
Garnish: Rosemary sprig and lemon peel

Name: Amaro Sibilia
Italian Region: Le Marche
Flavor profile: Floral honey, toasted nuts, charred oak, and coffee
Who drinks it: Adventurers, witches
Spritz Vibe: While Sibilia’s bitterness isn’t shy, it is the most herbaceous amaro on our list. When we call this spritz a potion, it’s out of respect for the amaro’s immense, toasted flavors. If you were to hop in a time machine to drink a spritz in the 1800s, you’d be sipping something like this: dark, medicinal, and nothing like Aperol.
Garnish: Fresh or Luxardo cherries

Need a couple more spritz recipes? We’ve got you.

Booze + Soda + Bubbly Wine = All You Need for These 6 Spritz Recipes

And a glass, I guess.