The rise of the Spritz: how it came to be the drink of the summer

It’s late July. The sun’s beating down on the packed beer gardens, the playlists are vibey and the SPF is lathered on (right!!👀). You’re standing at the bar planning your golden hour Instagram stories and there it is again, that familiar clink of ice cubes falling into a glass, the pop of a bottle of fizz being opened, the unmistakable orange glow catches your eye, the bartender begins to pour. As I’m writing this, the office has become unbearably hot and I find myself biting my lip. Whether you’re on a rooftop in Shoreditch or a pub garden in Bristol, someone nearby is sipping a Spritz.

From lazy brunches to boozy brand launches, the Spritz has unofficially become the official drink of the summer. You’ll find it on every menu, every influencer’s grid, and in the hands of anyone trying to signal I’m chic but I’m so low-key about it.

But how did we get here? How did a bitter orange aperitivo invented over a century ago become one of the most recognisable drinks in modern hospitality? The Spritz didn’t just become the drink of the summer by accident. Its rise to stardom is a masterclass in brand storytelling, experiential campaigns, and sheer aesthetic domination.

A brief history of bubbles

Let’s rewind. 

The Spritz, in its earliest form, dates back to 19th-century northern Italy, where Austrian soldiers stationed in the Veneto region found Italian wines too strong and began adding a “spritz” (German for "splash") of water to Italian wines to dilute them. Something tells me these soldiers wouldn’t last a night out in Thekla with a group of freshers. Anyway, over time, that splash of water evolved into soda, then Prosecco, and eventually a holy grail like drink we now know as the Spritz.

Aperol, invented in 1919 by the Barbieri brothers (my own personal gods) in Padua, was one of several bitter aperitivos used in the drink, but for decades, it played second fiddle to its punchier cousin, Campari. That is, until the early 2000s, when the Campari Group acquired Aperol and set about transforming the drink into a lifestyle

I thank god every summer that they did.

Lock in the serve, lock in the brand

When Campari Group took over, they saw potential in Aperol’s softer, sweeter profile. Unlike Campari, Aperol was lighter, less alcoholic at just 11% (which means you can have more), and more approachable for international palates. Honing in on appealing to women, who were (at the time) heavily under-targeted by the spirits world.

So, they did something smart: they created a definitive serve, a 3-2-1 formula (three parts Prosecco, two parts Aperol, one part soda), served over ice in a balloon glass with a slice of orange. No lemon. No lime. No nonsense.

Why did this matter? Because it allowed them to own the visual.

The oversized goblet glass, the orange wedge, the fizz - it became instantly recognisable. When people saw it, they didn’t just think “Spritz.” They thought “Aperol.”

This consistency laid the groundwork for a global brand takeover.

Orange is the new gold

The next phase? Saturation!

Campari Group knew they couldn’t win on product alone, so they focused on experience and visibility. Between 2010 and 2019, Aperol embarked on a hyper-targeted campaign strategy focusing on events and experiences showing up at the coolest venues handing out perfectly Instagrammable serves designed to embed itself into lifestyle moments, not just bar menus.

Here’s what that looked like in practice:

👑 Branded Aperol Spritz terraces began popping up across the UK and Europe. Think rooftop pop-ups, bar takeovers, and bright orange parasols dominating outdoor spaces from Shoreditch to Sydney.

👑 Mobile Spritz bars converted vans, boats, and even Vespas travelled to festivals and summer events, serving thousands of Spritzes from fully branded mobile units.

👑 Aperol Lido at Campo San Polo, Venice, complete with deck chairs, Aperol-branded towels, and DJ sets, was a masterclass in immersive product placement.

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Every inch of this 9 year long campaign was carefully designed to be highly photogenic, instantly recognisable, and wildly shareable.

They weren’t just selling a drink. They were selling a summer lifestyle. 

The Influencer Effect

The 2010s saw the rise of Instagram and Aperol rode the wave effortlessly. Aperol Spritz become a mainstay in Milanese piazzas and Parisian terraces, but it wasn’t until the drink infiltrated the feeds of London influencers and travel bloggers that things exploded.

It was, and remains, the ideal visual asset and an algorithm’s dream:

👑 Bright enough to pop in-feed.

👑 Low-alcohol enough to drink for hours.*

👑 Cool enough to signal taste, but accessible enough to order anywhere.

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Aperol Spritz became the go-to drink for influencers posting from Ibiza beach clubs, Italian city breaks, and Notting Hill garden parties. From micro-creators to celebrities, the message was clear: if you were drinking Aperol, you were having the right kind of summer.

Campari Group leaned in, launching Aperol Spritz Social Club events in cities across Europe, exclusive invite-only pop-ups designed specifically for content creators and media. These weren’t just parties; they were content machines, pre-lit and styled to within an inch of their lives.

The result? The feed took over the funnel. Instagram sold more Spritzes than any print advert ever could.

*I need to interrupt here, LOW ALCOHOL??? Every website I trawled through to research the post has called an Aperol Spritz low-alcohol? Huh? 3 of these bad boys and I’m slinging it back on the dance floor, trying to climb into the DJ booth and flirting with my own reflection in the bathroom mirror.

The ubiquity era

Now? You’d be hard-pressed to find a pub, bar, or restaurant that doesn’t offer at least one Spritz on the menu. It’s the drink that can be batched, branded, riffed on, and served with a smile to both your Aperol-loving aunt and your TikTok-trending niece.

Even non-alcoholic brands are getting in on the act, with zero-ABV takes on the Spritz popping up left, right, and centre.

From a marketing lens, this is textbook stuff:

👑 Clear brand ownership (Aperol = Spritz)

👑 Universal appeal (light, bitter-sweet, bubbly)

👑 Social-first presence (the drink is the content)

👑 Low complexity/high yield (easy for venues to batch, big margins, low ABV = longer drinking sessions)

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Final thoughts: why the Spritz reigns supreme

In an era where brand visibility is everything and consumers crave experiences over products, the Spritz nails both.

It’s more than a drink. It’s a vibe. It’s become a fixture of modern drinking culture, right up there with espresso martinis and natural wine. A signal of “I’ve clocked off.” A sip that says “I’m on holiday,” even if you’re just in your bestie’s garden with a £6 bottle of Aldi own Prosecco, the last can of Sprite in the fridge and a perfectly curated playlist.

Its rise is a reminder that you don’t need to invent a new product to win, you just need to find a moment, own it completely, and build the world around it. Aperol didn’t create the Spritz. But they branded it better than anyone else ever could.

And the next time you see a gorgeous man with his sausage fingers clutched around a goblet containing that iconic orange glow across a beer garden, come over and say hello. 😉