Over the spring and summer (and honestly the past few years), no cocktail has had a moment quite like the Aperol Spritz.The fizzy, Italian pre-dinner drink has flooded social media to become the go-to happy hour and patio sip. With summer far behind us and the cooling temps of winter finally here, what are spritz lovers to do?
From the brilliant minds behind the bar at Group Therapy, the sultry lounge at Hotel ZaZa Austin, comes – The Winter Spritz. The bright cocktail is a same but different riff on the beloved cocktail, adding cinnamon and spiced orange ginger ale to the mix to create the new “cocktail of winter” to get us through the holidays and the looming winter months ahead.
Corporate Director of Food and Beverage at Hotel ZaZa, Jacob Weaver, weighed in on this seasonal twist to the beverage. “While the classic Aperol Spritz has become synonymous with sunny summertime drinking, it’s actually a more flexible cocktail than one might initially imagine,” Weaver said. “Bittersweet and with notes of citrus and rhubarb, Aperol is a perfect foil for the ginger and baking spices of the Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale. Those aromatic notes are rounded out with the rich cognac and deep orange notes of Grand Marnier. It’s not a “spritz” without some bright, bubbly prosecco and here it provides a zesty balance against those wintery notes and—after all—it’s not really the holidays without some bubbles anyway, right?”
The Winter Spritz
Courtesy of Jacob Weaver and David Esquibel at Hotel ZaZa Austin
Ingredients
- 1.5 ounces Aperol
- 2 ounces Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale
- .5 ounces Grand Marnier
- 3 ounces Prosecco
- Orange Peel
- Cinnamon Stick
Instructions
- Fill a wine glass with ice.
- Add prosecco, Aperol, Grand Marnier, and spiced ginger ale.
- Gently stir.
- Garnish with an orange peel and cinnamon stick.
- Enjoy!
