Peak Hugo: How an Alpine Afterthought Won Summer 2026

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Nathan (anchor): For the first time, the Aperol Spritz has been beaten. Google Trends in the UK, thirteen weeks ending July twelfth: Hugo Spritz at fifty-five point eight. Aperol, fifty-three point nine. Four years ago Hugo was a rounding error, about two percent of Aperol's search interest. Today it's number one. This is your briefing on the drink of summer twenty twenty-six, and yes, we'll give you the exact recipe.

[soft prosecco cork pop and fizz pouring into a glass with ice]

Nathan (anchor): Now, the origin. Two thousand five, a wine bar called San Zeno in Naturns, South Tyrol, near the Austrian border. A barman named Roland Gruber wanted an alternative to the Aperol Spritz. Elderflower syrup, Prosecco, a splash of sparkling water, mint. He named it Hugo. Why Hugo? No reason whatsoever. He's said so himself.

Nathan (anchor): And then he forgot about it. Gruber went off bartending elsewhere in Europe, and years later stumbled across a Hugo by chance, in a German bar. His own invention, out in the wild without him.

Nathan (anchor): For the money side, our drinks correspondent, Laura Beck.

Laura Beck (drinks correspondent): The numbers are brutal for Campari. St-Germain, the elderflower liqueur, up forty percent in the US over the latest three months. Aperol, down four. In the UK, St-Germain grew forty-six percent while other spritz brands managed ten. UK sales more than doubled in the twelve months to March. It's now the industry's second bestselling liqueur, a top-three pick in thirty-six percent of bars polled.

Laura Beck (drinks correspondent): But keep perspective. St-Germain sells four hundred thirty-five thousand cases globally. Aperol sells eight point eight million. David is winning on growth, not on size. And the trade is already asking whether we've hit peak Hugo, and whether this stretches into autumn.

Nathan (anchor): Why now? Travel. Americans and Brits found it in Europe, flooded their feeds, then asked for it back home. Milan forecasters called light, low-ABV aperitifs the centre of summer twenty twenty-six. A finished Hugo lands around eight to ten percent. Add a Sophie Turner partnership and a decade of patient pop-ups, and you get a twenty-one-year overnight success.

[gentle mint leaves muddled in a glass, ice clink, short and crisp]

Nathan (anchor): The recipe. Large wine glass. Three parts Prosecco, ninety millilitres. Two parts elderflower liqueur, sixty. One part soda water, thirty. Ice, a generous handful of fresh mint, lime wheels. The pro move: muddle the mint gently in the liqueur first, let it infuse three to five minutes, then Prosecco, then soda, garnish, light stir.

Nathan (anchor): A splash of gin tames the sweetness. Lyre's Classico makes it alcohol-free. And if St-Germain's forty-nine euros stings, Briottet or Giffard will run you under thirty a litre. The global elderflower drinks market: four hundred thirty-eight million dollars this year, seven hundred ten million by twenty thirty-three. Not bad for a drink its inventor forgot.

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