Spritz, Negroni, Americano

Aperitivo cocktails are a short list on purpose. You are not collecting tiki mugs. You are opening dinner. The three drinks the International Bartenders Association keeps on its official list — Spritz, Negroni, Americano — cover almost every home tray. Learn those three and you can vary the bitter, the wine and the length without inventing a new category.

This hub cites the IBA pages. It does not replace them. If the Association changes a measure, their page wins.

The Spritz

The official Spritz is:

• 90 ml Prosecco
• 60 ml Aperol
• a splash of soda water

Build all of it in a wine glass filled with ice. Stir gently. Garnish with a slice of orange. The IBA notes that other versions use Campari, Cynar or Select instead of Aperol. Those are still spritzes. They are not the Aperol Spritz.

The 90/60/splash ratio is wetter and more wine-led than the internet’s “equal parts” shorthand. If you have been pouring 60/60/60, you have been making a different, heavier drink. That is allowed; it is just not the official one. The long recipe is in the Aperol Spritz guide.

Prosecco matters. The IBA asks for it by name. A random sparkling wine will still fizz, but the official drink is a Prosecco spritz. Soda is a splash, not a third equal pillar — enough to lift the wine, not enough to turn the glass into a cooler.

The Negroni

The official Negroni is:

• 30 ml gin
• 30 ml Campari
• 30 ml sweet red vermouth

Pour directly into a chilled old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Stir gently. Garnish with half an orange slice.

Equal parts is the whole idea. Change the gin and you change the perfume. Change the vermouth and you change the sweetness and the spice. Change the bitter and you have left Campari’s drink for a cousin. The IBA specification is Campari, not “a red bitter”. If you use another bitter, say so.

A Negroni is the strongest of the three official aperitivo cocktails because the soda and the wine lengtheners are gone. It still belongs before dinner, not instead of dinner. One is a prelude. A second is a decision.

The Americano

The official Americano is:

• 30 ml Campari
• 30 ml sweet red vermouth
• a splash of soda water

Mix in an old-fashioned glass over ice, add the soda, stir gently. Garnish with half an orange slice and a lemon zest.

It is the Negroni without gin, or the spritz family without sparkling wine. It is the right drink when you want Campari’s bitterness and vermouth’s wine, and you want the alcohol to stay modest. The IBA garnish is more citrus than the Negroni’s — orange and lemon zest — which is a clue: the drink is lighter, so the top note has to work harder.

The long comparison is in Negroni and Americano.

Ice, glass, order of pour

Ice is an ingredient. A wine glass of small, wet cubes will melt faster than a rocks glass with one large piece. For the Spritz, fill the glass; the IBA says so. For the Negroni, the chilled glass and the stir are how you keep the drink clear. Do not shake. Shaking a wine drink bruises bubbles. Shaking a spirit-and-vermouth drink gives you cloud and foam you did not ask for.

Order of pour is manners, not magic. For a Spritz, wine then bitter then soda keeps the bubbles from erupting. For a Negroni, equal parts into the glass is what the IBA describes. For an Americano, the soda comes last so you can taste as you lengthen.

Variations that stay honest

The IBA already blesses Campari, Cynar or Select in a Spritz. A sbagliato — a Negroni whose gin is replaced with sparkling wine — is a widely published cousin, not an IBA official cocktail on the same pages. If you make one, call it a sbagliato, not a Negroni.

Australian bottles can stand in when the recipe is a template rather than an official specification. A Marionette bitter curaçao is a bitter orange liqueur the producer itself puts in a Negroni-shaped serve. A Maidenii or Regal Rogue vermouth is still vermouth. Substitutions should be named, never hidden.

What not to invent

We do not publish “the best spritz in Sydney” or a ranked list of bartenders. We do not invent ABV tables for branded bottles. We do not attach prices. If you want a citable recipe, use the IBA links above and the long guides. If you want to pitch a new recipe as a guest post, bring the source for every measure.