Sweet and Floral, the St-Germain Spritz Is Springtime in a Glass

As spritz trends come and go, one has had quiet staying power: the impossibly French, always refreshing St-Germain spritz. A simple, elegant marriage of Prosecco, soda water, St-Germain elderflower liqueur and lemon, the libation is a wonderful platform for seasonal garnishes like edible flowers in the spring.

Its star ingredient, St-Germain, is a French liqueur made from fresh elderflowers—it gets its golden hue from the flowers’ pollen. While the liqueur exudes a certain timelessness, St-Germain didn’t exist until 2007 when it was invented by third-generation distiller Robert J. Cooper.

“The seductive bouquet offers wonderfully floral, fruity, guava- and melon-like fragrances of elderflower, becoming richly pear- and quince-like following aeration time,” Wine Enthusiast reported in 2008, a year after the liqueur hit the market. “The palate entry is soft and firm; the midpalate is integrated, harmonious and exquisitely balanced between alcohol level, sweetness, acidity and floral impact. A perfect liqueur.”

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Poured from an Art Deco-style bottle, St-Germain offers delicate pear and honeysuckle notes that add complexity to spritzes and even gin and tonics. The cordial, or sweetened distilled spirit, has 20% ABV.

“The key to a very good St-Germain spritz lies in achieving a balance of flavors through well-chosen ingredients,” says Chanel Adams, mixologist and manager of the legendary Bamboo Bar inside of the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok. “The key elements are proportion and synergy, ensuring no single flavor dominates, but instead, they come together to form a refreshing and easy beverage.”

The St-Germain spritz certainly seems to have benefitted from the ongoing low-ABV trend. Spritzes tend to have a lower ABV, and in 2023, spritz sales nearly tripled. They’re now the seventh most popular cocktail in the U.S., even beating out the espresso martini.

Variations on a Classic

Traditionally, the St-Germain spritz is made with 1.5 ounces of St-Germain, two ounces of soda water and two ounces of Prosecco—plus a twist of lemon and perhaps some floral garnish, for good measure. But the opportunities for customization are endless.

In fact, you can make the cocktail even more French. At the Ritz Bar in Paris, head bartender Romain de Courcy swaps in French bubbles. “As a nod to the Belle Époque, we use Champagne instead of Prosecco,” he says. “We also add a splash of fresh lime juice for an extra zing that balances the liqueur.” De Courcy weighs the Champagne—he uses 90 grams, or a little over three ounces—directly into the glass on a scale “to be as precise as possible without losing the fizz.”

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Adams of Bamboo Bar likes to use a nice dry Cava instead of Prosecco, and she introduces a touch more acidity with .5 ounces of lemon juice. To up the botanical depth, she likes to add .5 ounces of Tanqueray No. Ten gin. (St-Germain and gin make very good friends.)

“The interplay between the sweet and floral notes of St-Germain, the acidity from the lemon juice, the juniper and citrusy notes of Tanqueray Ten gin, the dry minerality of Cava and powerful bubbles of Singha Soda Water creates a well-rounded cocktail,” says Adams. (Singha is a wonderfully crisp Thai soda water with particularly long-lasting bubbles, but you can use your favorite soda water.)

How to Serve a St-Germain Spritz

Adams’s glass of choice for the St-Germain spritz is a stemless wine glass, and she garnishes “with a lemon wheel and peel twist for an aromatic touch and an edible flower for a hint of elegance.” A tall Collins glass filled with ice is another popular vessel for the cocktail.

When making the Ritz Paris version, De Courcy gets extremely precise about ice, using Hoshizaki XL ice cubes, which are 32 by 32 by 32 mm. “Their higher-than-standard size means they also keep [the drink] cold without over-diluting it or breaking the bubbles,” he says.

De Courcy recommends serving the cocktail in a high-quality wine glass, like Riedel’s Champagne glass, which he finds to be “perfectly balanced and very elegant yet robust.” But make sure your glass isn’t too thin, “so that it can safely hold the ice cubes and you can cheer with it.”

St-Germain Spritz Recipe

Adapted from St-Germain

Published: March 12, 2024