Early aperitivo bars in the 2010s largely preserved classic spritz and Negroni templates, favoring subtle ingredient adjustments to refine rather than reinvent. A subsequent wave sought to reimagine aperitivo as a distinctly American concept, spawning disco and dive-bar interpretations. The spritz remained adaptable—bubbly and bitter—and continued to attract variations and accolades even as broader 2.0 experimentation cooled. A new 3.0 wave has emerged across U.S. cities, prioritizing Italian ingredients and foods—including amari, calabrian chile, tomato, pannetone, and tiramisu—while translating those flavors into drinks that often read as Italian-American rather than strictly Italian cocktails.
Something's up with aperitivo. Then again, since it first washed up on our shores, something has always been up with aperitivo. There was a time, in the 2010s, when the spritz and Negroni belonged to a tiny cottage industry of bars that proudly declared themselves "aperitivo." Most, like Dante and Bar Pisellino in New York, or Americano in Portland, Oregon, remained relatively faithful to the classics, preferring to add their stamp in the light rejiggering of ingredients. The quest was to improve, rather than overhaul.
In 2020, when we last checked in on the spritz , the undisputed icon of aperitivo, it was not so much a fixed drink (though, of course, the Aperol Spritz was a reliable export), but an idea-bubbly, bitter, you fill in the rest. Its malleability invited ownership. While the spritz trundled along, unencumbered, picking up accolades ( Hugo Spritz, drink of Summer 2023 !) and rolling with the winds of change , the broader aperitivo 2.0 trend seemed to be in a return-to-sender moment.
Now, aperitivo has slowly emerged anew. In New York, Little Fino, Bad Roman, San Sabino, I Cavallini, Bar Bianchi. In LA, Capri Club. In Houston, Aperitivo. In Nashville, Four Walls. The 3.0 crop doesn't seem to share all that much in common with its predecessors on glance, but look at the menus, and a thread emerges: a focus not so much on the classic canon, but instead on Italian ingredients or foods, and not just amari and aperitivo liqueurs,
Collection
[
|
...
]