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A pale, fizzy Hugo Spritz in a large wine glass with mint and a lime wedge
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Hugo Spritz

Prosecco, elderflower cordial, soda and fresh mint over ice — a paler, more floral cousin of the Aperol Spritz.

Difficulty
easy
Prep time
4 min
Strength
5.8% ABV
Glassware
Large wine glass (balloon glass)
Base
sparkling wine
Serves
1

Related drinks

Ingredients

  • Prosecco
    120ml
  • Elderflower cordial

    The traditional Hugo uses a non-alcoholic cordial, not a liqueur — see substitutions for the St-Germain-style version

    20ml
  • Soda water

    To top

    40ml
  • Fresh lime, cut into wedges

    About half a lime, squeezed over the glass and dropped in

    15ml
  • Fresh mint leaves

    A small handful, slapped to release aroma

    5ml

Garnish: Mint sprig, Lime wedge

Scale for a party

Method

  1. Fill a large wine glass with plenty of ice.
  2. Pour in the elderflower cordial.
  3. Squeeze the lime wedges over the glass and drop them in.
  4. Top slowly with prosecco.
  5. Add a splash of soda water and a few slapped mint leaves.
  6. Stir once, very gently, and garnish with a mint sprig.

Equipment

Don't have everything? Here's what works instead.

  • Jigger

    Household swap: A tablespoon measure (1 tbsp ≈ 15ml)

  • Bar spoon

    Household swap: A long-handled kitchen spoon

Missing an ingredient?

Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.

  • Instead of Elderflower Cordial

    Best substitute: Elderflower liqueur

    This is the sweet element in this drink.

    Quantity: Use about half as much (10ml), since the liqueur is both alcoholic and more concentrated

    Flavour impact: An elderflower liqueur such as St-Germain gives a similar floral note but adds real alcohol and a rounder, less tart sweetness than the cordial.

    What changes

    Expect more intensity and less texture. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.

    Intensity ↑
    A more intensely flavoured ingredient will start to dominate the components around it.
    Texture ↓
    The swap takes weight out of the drink, so it will feel thinner even where the flavour is close.
    Character
    Both are floral, honeyed and sweet, and you lose delicate, and you gain aromatic. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Scale it back by a third and let the other ingredients hold their share.
    • A slightly richer syrup, or a shorter dilution, puts some of the body back.
    High confidenceSt-Germain is the most common bar substitute for the traditional cordial version.Shifts the drinkBecomes a variation

  • Instead of Sparkling Wine

    Best substitute: Alcohol-Free Sparkling Wine

    This is the base in this drink.

    Quantity: Use the same volume

    Flavour impact: An alcohol-free sparkling wine keeps the format intact and makes the whole drink alcohol-free. Expect it to read a little sweeter, so go slightly heavier on the soda and lime.

    What changes

    Expect more sweetness and less intensity. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.

    Sweetness ↑
    The drink will land sweeter, which also makes it read as less sharp and slightly heavier even though nothing else changed.
    Intensity ↓
    A milder ingredient gets buried by whatever else is in the glass, and the drink loses the thing it was named for.
    Character
    Both are crisp and effervescent, and you lose dry and bright, and you gain light and fruity. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.

    To correct for it

    • Cut the syrup or sugar back — start by halving it and taste before adding any back.
    • Increase the measure, or accept a gentler drink and reduce the components competing with it.
    Moderate confidenceAlcohol-free sparkling wines are widely available and behave similarly enough for this build.Shifts the drinkBecomes a variation

Want to change something these swaps do not cover — too sweet, too thin, a herb you dislike? How to adjust any mocktail works by what each component does rather than by ingredient name.

Make it better

  • Use a genuinely floral elderflower cordial, not a diluted squash — the aroma is the whole point of this drink.
  • Slap the mint between your palms before adding it; this releases its oils without needing to muddle it, which would cloud the drink and turn it bitter.
  • Pour the prosecco last and slowly down the side of the glass to keep as many bubbles as possible.
  • Add the carbonated mixer last, after shaking or stirring the rest, and pour gently to keep as much fizz as possible.
  • Adjust sweetness gradually and taste as you go — it's easy to add more syrup, impossible to take it out.

Rescue this drink

Tastes flat and dull
Use a freshly opened, cold bottle of prosecco — poured over ice from an older, warmer bottle it loses its lift fast.
Too sweet
Cut the cordial back to 15ml and add a touch more soda water and lime.
Mint tastes bitter
You likely muddled it. Just slap the sprig between your hands and drop it in — don't press or crush it.
Not enough elderflower flavour
Add another 5–10ml of cordial rather than more prosecco; the flavour dilutes quickly at this ratio.
You cannot smell itgeneral guidance
Most of a drink's aroma is on top of it, not in it. Slap the herb sprig once between your palms before it goes in; it bruises the surface oils without shredding the leaf. Aroma also fades fastest of anything in a drink, so garnish at the moment of serving rather than in advance.
The garnish is louder than the drinkgeneral guidance
A garnish is seasoning, and this one carries an aromatic garnish on a drink that is not especially assertive. If it smells more of the garnish than of itself, use less of the aromatic one rather than removing both — whole spices in particular keep giving long after the first sip.
It separates in the glassgeneral guidance
A built drink with several ingredients relies on the pour to mix it, and denser components — syrups, purées, juice concentrates — sink. Give it one full stir from the bottom up with a bar spoon before garnishing. If it separates again while standing, it wants building over more ice rather than more stirring.
Too weak or waterygeneral guidance
Add a splash more of the base spirit rather than extra mixer. For stirred or built drinks, over-dilution from ice is the usual cause — try a shorter stir or fewer, larger ice cubes.
Too sourgeneral guidance
Add a little more sweetener (simple syrup or the cocktail's usual sweetening ingredient), a small amount at a time.
Served too warmgeneral guidance
Chill the glass, ice and every ingredient ahead of time — a warm pour is the fastest way to lose a cold drink's balance. For one serving, there's no real fix beyond rebuilding it properly chilled; for a batch, keep everything refrigerated until the moment of serving and add ice last.

Make ahead & storage

Batch the base, finish at serving

Batch the 3 stable components days ahead and add prosecco and soda water when you pour.

Prosecco:
Carbonated — it goes flat in a bottle, and there is no way to put the fizz back.
Soda water:
Carbonated — it goes flat in a bottle, and there is no way to put the fizz back.

What it tastes like

The taste, and what drives it

sweet, balanced, very light, sparkling — a sour-structured drink served long, over ice.

Sweet

Dry → Sweet

Openly sweet, and balanced by something else rather than hidden.

What drives it: Elderflower cordial — carries the most sugar into the glass.

Balanced

Soft → Sharp

Enough acidity to keep the drink awake without dominating it.

What drives it: Fresh lime, cut into wedges — supplies the acidity.

Very light

Light → Rich

Almost weightless in the mouth — closer to a long soft drink than to a sipper.

What drives it: Prosecco — adds most of the weight.

Very sparkling

Still → Sparkling

Carbonated, which lifts the aromatics and makes the drink taste drier than its sugar content alone would suggest.

What drives it: Prosecco — carries the carbonation.

Delicate

Delicate → Bold

Delicate. Rewards attention rather than demanding it.

What drives it: Prosecco — is the most concentrated thing in the glass.

What you smell first

  • MintLeadsBefore the first sip

    From Fresh mint leaves, Mint sprig

  • Orchard fruitLeads

    From Prosecco

  • Citrus peelLeads

    From Fresh lime, cut into wedges, Lime wedge

  • Floral

    From Elderflower cordial

Aromas marked as sitting above the drink reach you before the first sip — skipping that garnish changes the drink more than its size suggests.

How it was worked out

Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. Almost everything in this drink has detailed ingredient data behind it.

How balance actually works →

If it isn't right

What goes wrong with this drink, and why

Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — each with the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.

The fizz is the last thing in, and the first thing lost

Worth knowing

Carbonation escapes to warmth, agitation and anything it can cling to — pulp, sugar crystals, a dry glass wall.

How to handle it: Chill the mixer hard, pour it against the inside of the glass, add it last, and stir once at most.

  • It's too sweet

    Likely cause
    Elderflower cordial is carrying the sugar here, and it is the easiest thing in the drink to over-pour — syrup clings to a jigger and a "splash" is rarely the same twice.
    What to change
    Cut elderflower cordial by about a third and rebuild. If it is already made, a squeeze of citrus is faster than starting again.
    What that does
    The drink will read sharper as well as less sweet, because the acid stops being balanced. That is usually the intention, but it is a bigger change than it sounds.

  • It's too sour

    Likely cause
    Fresh lime, cut into wedges varies more than any other ingredient in the drink. Limes differ by weeks of ripeness, and a sharp one can be half again as acidic as a mild one at the same measure.
    What to change
    Add sweetener a few millilitres at a time rather than diluting — you are correcting a ratio, not a concentration.
    What that does
    Sourness recedes and the drink gains a little weight. Overshoot and you will be reading the too-sweet entry above instead.

  • It tastes weak

    Likely cause
    With no alcohol to carry flavour and no heat to cut through, an alcohol-free drink has to work harder for the same presence — thinness here is almost never a measuring error.
    What to change
    Add acidity or bitterness rather than more fruit. Sweetness is what is usually already too high in a thin mocktail.
    What that does
    The drink gains definition without gaining sugar. It will also read as slightly sharper, which is what 'more presence' usually means in practice.

  • It's gone flat

    Likely cause
    Prosecco loses gas to warmth, to agitation and to anything it can nucleate against — pulp, sugar crystals, a dry glass.
    What to change
    Chill the mixer properly, add it last, pour it against the inside wall of the glass, and stir once at most.
    What that does
    The bubbles last, which also makes the drink taste drier — carbonation contributes a real acidity of its own on top of the lift.

  • It doesn't smell of anything

    Likely cause
    The aroma you are missing is probably mint, which sits above the drink rather than in it — skipping or under-expressing the garnish removes it entirely.
    What to change
    Express the peel over the surface with the skin facing the drink, then drop it in. Herbs go in the glass, not on the side.
    What that does
    Aroma arrives before flavour does, so the whole drink reads as more intense without a single measure changing. The oil does land in the drink, though — an over-expressed peel adds a faint bitterness to the first mouthful.

Taste profile

Sweetness
3/5
Sourness
2/5
Bitterness
0/5
Strength
1/5
Fruitiness
2/5
Freshness
5/5
Creaminess
0/5
Smokiness
0/5

Nutrition & alcohol

Estimate onlyCordial sweetness and prosecco brand vary the exact sugar and calorie count.
Calories
120 kcal
Sugar
12 g
Carbohydrates
13 g
Alcohol units (UK)
1.45
US standard drinks
0.82
ABV
5.8%
Serving size
250 ml
Show calculation assumptions

Source: Calculated from standard measures

Calorie breakdown: ~80 kcal from alcohol, ~40 kcal from sugar and mixers.

Likely range: 90–150 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.

Based on 120ml prosecco at 12% ABV, 20ml elderflower cordial, 40ml soda water and fresh lime and mint.

These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.

Variations

  • Hugo Royale

    Use elderflower liqueur (e.g. St-Germain) in place of the cordial at half the quantity for a stronger, more alcoholic version.

  • Basil Hugo

    Swap the mint for fresh basil for an even more fragrant, slightly peppery twist.

What kind of drink this is

The structure behind the recipe

A built build: a sour-structured sparkling-wine-based drink, served long, over ice — sparkling in the mouth.

Sour-structured

Something sour and something sweet held in balance over a base — the structure behind the whole sour family and everything descended from it.

  • Base

    Prosecco

  • Sour element

    Fresh lime, cut into wedges

  • Sweet element

    Elderflower cordial

  • Lengthener

    Soda water

  • Aromatic

    Fresh mint leaves

Drinks built this way are collected as the Spritz family.

Technique

built

Components are poured into the serving glass over ice and stirred once, or not at all. Dilution happens while you drink rather than before.

The drink changes as you go: strongest at the first sip, longest and most diluted at the last. That drift is a feature of a long drink and a fault in a short one.

What it ruins: Nothing, but it cannot properly combine anything viscous — a syrup poured last will sit at the bottom.

Everything about building in the glass →How the technique works →

Dilution

In the glass, as you drink

Water from ice typically makes up around 15% of the finished drink for a built build (commonly 10–20%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.

Why dilution is an ingredient →

Served

Long, over ice

Large wine glass (balloon glass) · 250ml

Served on ice, so it keeps chilling in the glass. A larger, colder, slower drink than the same spirits served straight up.

Texture and aroma

SparklingMint sprigFresh mint leaves

Carbonation lifts aromatics and adds a slight acidity of its own, which is why a long drink can taste drier than its sugar content suggests.

These components are doing aromatic work: you meet them at the nose before the first sip, and they shape how everything underneath reads.

Where to go from here

Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.

Where it comes from

Origin and family

Origin of the Hugo Spritz

A modern Northern Italian / South Tyrolean creation, generally credited to bartender Roland Gruber in the early 2000s as a gentler alternative to the Aperol Spritz.

Family

Spritz

3 parts sparkling wine · 2 parts bitter aperitif · 1 part soda — built over ice, in a big glass.

1980 onwardOther modern classics drinks →

On drinks history

Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.

History and culture →

Try this next

Questions people ask

Why does my mint taste bitter?
See "Rescue this drink" above — muddling is the cause. Slap the sprig between your hands to release the aroma and drop it in whole rather than pressing it.
Cordial or elderflower liqueur?
This build uses cordial — see the ingredients above. The substitution guidance above covers using an elderflower liqueur instead, and the Hugo Royale variation above does so at half the quantity for a stronger drink.
Can I make it alcohol-free?
Yes — see the substitution guidance above. Swapping in an alcohol-free sparkling wine makes the whole drink alcohol-free, since the cordial contains none to begin with.

Use up your ingredients

Bought a bottle just for this? Here's what else it's good for.

Related tools

Scale this for a party

Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.

Recipe confidence

A recent but now widely standardised recipe with broadly agreed proportions.

High confidence