I tasted my first spritz ever in the hill country of Austria. Sounds idyllic, right? Not quite. Don’t get me wrong, an aperol spritz on a European afternoon is about as idyllic as it can get. But there were other factors swirling around my spritz that took away the awe of it all.
First of all, I was extremely jetlagged. I was running on about 4 hours of sleep, which never feels good, and on top of that, was dealing with some pretty severe nausea and heat exhaustion. I wasn’t in Austria with my husband or friends who could cheer me up, either. I flew there with my coworkers. And let’s just say, they saw no need to comfort me. Only criticize. My stress levels were at an all-time high. I was there for a pretty cool reason, though. Our client wanted to create a commercial about the elderberries that they source for their natural supplement products. So we travelled with a film crew to capture the elderberry harvest. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I spent most of it just trying to convince others that I sort of knew what I was doing. Which can be hard to do when you can’t even convince yourself.
I look back on that experience and have so much more grace for myself than before. I was brand new to this role. This was my second shoot EVER, and it was in a foreign country that spoke a different language with coworkers who didn’t make my job easier. Amidst the 3:30am wake-up calls and the 14-hour shoot days, my only respite came in the form of spritz’s. The Austrians seem to offer them at every meal! And while my companions ordered beer, my stomach had way too many knots to handle a lager. So I ordered a spritz.
My dear friend Madeline, who I mention quite a bit on this blog, helped me reclaim the beauty of a spritz shared with a friend. She loves to experiment with simple syrups, liquors and different kinds of bubbly. Madeline herself captures the spirit of very fine spritz. So it was only fitting to make her an Alison spritz when she and her husband Sam came over.
Alison’s spritz is simple and flexible: one-third liquor, like Campari or Aperol (we chose Rinomato which is on the more bitter side of Amaro’s), one third sparkling water or wine, and one-third regular white wine. Oh, and lots of ice. It’s refreshing, delicious, not anything truly different from other spritz’s, but a nice ingredient ratio to go by. It was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed our drinks in our sunlit apartment for what would be our last time together there.
Very fine, indeed.
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