The Elderflower Aperol and Vodka Spritz is a delightful and creative take on the original. It tastes floral and herbaceous with a beautiful hint of bittersweet orange.
Quick Facts Elderflower Aperol and Vodka Spritz Cocktail
Spritz cocktails are among the most popular alcoholic beverages in Italy. When the sun sets, people gather in cafés and enjoy a glass of these sparkling and refreshing drinks.
The Aperol Spritz stands for this category of cocktails like no other. Still, the simple mix of Aperol, Prosecco, and chilled soda water leaves room for experimenting.
Vodka, Aperol, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit juice, orange bitters, and tonic water is what you need for this drink.
Unlike the classic recipe made from only three components, this Spritz does not follow the 3:2:1 ratio but is a customized version of this template. One that's adjusted to the higher number of ingredients:
In terms of ingredients, we like to use a decent mid-shelf vodka like Absolut or Ketel One for most of our vodka recipes, inlcuding this Elderflower Aperol and Vodka Spritz. If you have another favorite, you can stick to that, though.Â
St. Germain is our number one pick for the elderflower liqueur. So far, we have found nothing that can compete with the French brand.
The grapefruit juice should be fresh, and you best take a new bottle of dry or Indian tonic water. Don't go for something fancy here.
Shake all components except the tonic and pour them over a couple of large ice cubes in your glass - the larger, the better (in this case, the glass and the ice 😉 ). Only then add the tonic and enjoy this beautiful summer sip.
Aperol is a bittersweet herbal liqueur within the family of Amaro liqueurs. All Amaro liqueurs are bittersweet in taste and flavored with numerous herbs, roots, and plants.
Further, Aperol is relatively low in ABV as it only contains 11% ABV. It is only slightly bitter and brings in floral and fruity flavors instead. -Usually, Amari have a more bitter taste - think, for instance, of Campari or Fernet Branca.
Elderflower liqueur is a rare cocktail ingredient, with only a few brands producing it. The best-known is St Germain, released in 2007. Their floral liqueur has won countless gold medals.
The taste of elderflower liqueur is hard to describe. It is relatively light, sweet, citrusy, and floral. You can even find some fruity notes of pear, making it a fantastic addition to summer cocktails like our Elderflower Aperol & Vodka Spritz.
Using Aperol in a drink is a great way to add complexity, herbal flavors, and a bittersweet taste.
You can use it in countless Spritz varieties, Aperol and Gin cocktails, Aperol and Vodka drinks, and twists on cocktails made with other Amaro liqueurs:
A classic Mule cocktail consists of three key ingredients: base spirit, citrus, and spicy ginger beer. And while almost everybody knows the famous Moscow Mule, there are other lesser-known representatives of this group.
The Glasgow Mule is one of these Mule cocktails not based on the classic spirit, Vodka. A twist invented by Damon Boelte while working at farm-to-table restaurant Prime Meats in Brooklyn, NYC. - Not in Scotland, as the name would suggest.
His creation is one of the more refined twists and asks for ingredients like Scotch, fresh lime juice, and ginger beer and balances the spice with sweet notes of elderflower liqueur. For extra depth, he added a dash of Angostura bitters.
Mixing a Glasgow Mule is very similar to making a standard Moscow Mule. However, instead of serving the drink in a copper Mule mug, you can use a Collins glass. -That's also the way Boelte served the cocktail at Prime Meats.
The list of ingredients may be a bit longer than for the Moscow Mule, but the steps are the same: Put ice into your Mule mug or Collins glass, then add all ingredients except the chilled ginger beer.
Stir the mix and add some more ice before topping up with ice-cold ginger beer.
The secret of the Glasgow Mule lies in the complex and unexpected flavor combination of Scotch Whisky with elderflower liqueur, lime juice, and spicy ginger beer.
To make sure you'll get the most out of this drink, you should use quality ingredients. For the elderflower liqueur, the best choice is St. Germain. St. Germain is an elderflower liqueur named after the fashionable quarter of St-Germain-des-Près located in Paris.
Elderflowers are the tiny white flowers of the elderberry plant. In Europe, it's common to produce a rich, floral, and fragrant syrup from the elderflowers. But for the Glasgow Mule, you need liqueur.
You will find that there's a whole variety of elderflower liqueur on the market. But none is comparable to the version of St. Germain. Their liqueur is made with fresh and handpicked elderflowers.
The taste is hard to describe and there's nothing that's comparable to it. It's sweet, floral, and has some slightly fruity notes, too. Best to try it for yourself.
The lime juice should be freshly squeezed and the ginger beer fresh and bubbly - we like to use Bundaberg. As for the Scotch Whisky, you definitely want to go with a blended one.
And last but not least, a few drops of Angostura bitters make the drink complete.
When you read Scotch Whisky, you inevitably think directly of the smoky and peaty Single Malts that Scotland is famous for. But that's not what you should use in a great Glasgow Mule.
This Mule variation lives from its balance and complexity. Therefore it's best to use a blended Scotch that is not too overpowering.
Opt for a Whisky that is only slightly smoky and brings in some spice and vanilla notes.
An Isle Of Skye 8 Year Old, for example, works fantastic in a Glasgow Mule. The blend includes malt Whiskies from the isle of Skye and Speyside.
Before bottling, the final blend rests and ages in oak barrels. The Isle Of Skye 8 Year Old is a superb Whisky from Scotland that also is enjoyable neat or on the rocks.
Mule cocktails are refreshing and perfect for hot summer days. Here are some delicious riffs you have to try:
