Spritz season isn’t over yet: here’s where to drink the cocktail of summer 2019
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- Alix Walker
- Published
The UK’s best (and most photogenic) spritz bars, from London to Glasgow.
From the classic Aperol to the new French twist, spritzes continue to rein supreme as the hottest cocktail trend of summer 2019.
With no shortage of spritzes on the menu at the moment, though, it can be hard to decide on where best to sample the trend. To help you out, we’ve rounded up our favourite places to drink them.
Chin chin!
FOR THE CAMPEST SPRITZ IN LONDON
Following the ridiculously popular Gloria in Shoreditch, east London – a riot of excellent Italian food and seriously camp interiors – comes the hugely anticipated opening of its Sicilian sister restaurant, Circolo Popolare in Fitzrovia, which just so happens to have gone big on the spritz.
Highlights include the anti brexspritz (beefeater gin, apple annurca liqueur, pear, cucumber, elderflower cordial and mint, £8) or spritz veneziano (Bitter Select, Plymouth thyme gin, prosecco and blood orange bitter, £6.50). Just add the truffle shuffle pizza (£18) topped with provola cheese, fresh truffle and truffle sauce.
Find out more at bigmammagroup.com now.
FOR A SPRITZ IN THE SKY
With an impressive menu of 16 summer spritz cocktails, new rooftop bar Lost In Brixton is the best place to drink them south of the Thames. Try a sunkissed spritz (£9) – with Pococello limoncello, strawberry puree, prosecco, soda, lemon and strawberry – paired with their food delivered straight from a selection of the restaurants from Brixton market below.
Find out more at lostinbrixton.com now.
FOR A TASTE OF HISTORY
The Kelvingrove Cafe has long been a gem of Glasgow’s cocktail scene, set up in a converted ice cream parlour on Argyle Street. The Ivy (£7) is one of its most popular drinks, a mix of Belsazar riesling, albariño, elderflower, cucumber, lemon and cava. The bar is encouraging a culture of aperitivo drinking by serving cocktails with a deliberately low ABV – just like this one.
Find out more at kelvingrovecafe.com now.
FOR AFTER-WORK SIPPERS
New Orleans-inspired Smokestack in Leeds has a few creative takes on the spritz. Lady Botany (£8) is a mix of gin, lime and pink peppercorn cordial, and pineapple soda. Or try the Breakfast at Tiffany’s (£8): gin, elderflower and lemon balm cordial, topped with prosecco.
Once you’ve drunk your fill of spritz, be sure to head upstairs to The Roost for the best funk and soul DJs in Leeds.
Find out more at sandinistagroup.co.uk now.
FOR AN EXPERIMENTAL SPRITZ
It’s not easy to find Manchester’s Science & Industry (it’s accessed via a concealed doorway in the Northern Quarter) but once you do, you’ll find a bar that means business. Its reimagining of the spritz is the charlemagne: Amaro Montenegro (a liqueur made with 40 herbs and spices), prosecco and a raspberry and rosemary cordial (£9.50).
Find out more at caneandgrain.co.uk now.
FOR A BITE ON THE SIDE
One of the best things about a spritz is that it’s designed to be enjoyed with ‘little bites’. Hacha Bar in Dalston, east London, does both brilliantly. Their mezcal spritz is a unique combination of mezcal, dry vermouth, carrot cordial, lemon and coriander soda (£9.50). And their delicious spiced aubergine tostaditas (£5.95 for two) are just begging to be eaten with it.
Find out more at hachabar.com now.
Main image: Tomsz Rynkiewicz/Unsplash
All other images: provided