Guide
Aperol cocktails beyond the Spritz
An open bottle of Aperol is not a reason to make the same Spritz every time. Six drinks in the catalog use it, and they do not ask for the same second bottle. Prosecco makes a Spritz. Gin and lemon make Intro to Aperol. Bourbon and Amaro Nonino make a Paper Plane. Mezcal splits into a Division Bell or a Naked and Famous, depending on whether you own maraschino or yellow Chartreuse. Vodka, pineapple, and passion fruit syrup make an East 8 Hold Up. Check the bottles you have in Pantry, then open What I can make. The Aperol hub holds the bottle note and the six recipe cards. This page is how to choose one drink.
Choose from the bottles already open
Start with the shelf, not with a shopping trip. Aperol is sweet, orange, and lower-proof than Campari. It does not stand in for Campari in a Negroni, and Campari does not stand in for it here. The six drinks below keep the Aperol measure that is printed on each recipe page.
Effort is the other split. The Spritz is built in a wine glass: ice, three pours, one stir. The other five are shaken. Intro to Aperol, the Paper Plane, the Division Bell, and Naked and Famous are served up. East 8 Hold Up goes into a rocks glass over fresh ice. None of them needs a new tool beyond a shaker and a strainer.
Garnishes do not decide whether a drink is ready. The orange slice on a Spritz and the orange twist on Intro to Aperol are peels. The grapefruit twist on a Division Bell is expressed and thrown out. Pineapple and lime wedges on East 8 Hold Up are the same kind of finish. Leave them off the list you pay for.
Prosecco means build a Spritz
If a dry sparkling wine is already cold, the Spritz is the short path. Fill a wine glass with ice, pour 3 oz Aperol, 3 oz Prosecco, and a 1 oz splash of soda water, then stir once. Drop an orange slice in the glass. Do not shake it. Bubbles are the point, and a shaker knocks them out.
On this site, Prosecco, Champagne, and sparkling wine are the same pantry match, so any of those three boxes covers the wine line. Cava is not its own box. If the bottle in the fridge is cava, the Spritz will not show as ready unless you also check sparkling wine or Prosecco. The recipe page says a dry sparkling wine can stand in for taste. The matcher only knows the three names above.
This is the lowest-effort Aperol drink and the one with the least spirit. Open the Aperol Spritz recipe for the glass and the pantry rows. If you have no sparkling wine, skip this one and use the next section.
Gin and lemon means shake Intro to Aperol
Audrey Saunders built Intro to Aperol at Pegu Club so Aperol could lead a sour. The pour is 2 oz Aperol, 1 oz London dry gin, ¾ oz lemon juice, ¼ oz simple syrup, and 1 dash Angostura bitters. Shake about 20 seconds and strain into a martini glass. That glass is the cocktail glass the recipe calls for. Express an orange twist and drop it in.
Aperol is twice the gin, so the orange bitter stays in front and the lemon keeps it tart. The syrup is a short ¼ oz, not the ¾ oz a Whiskey Sour uses. Angostura is one dash and it is required. Skip the dash and the drink will not show as ready.
Any gin you have checked off covers that line. There is no separate London dry box, so a different gin label still matches. Lemon juice and a lemon are the same citrus match. Sugar is not simple syrup. If the syrup is the gap, that is a saucepan, not a second bitter. Open the Intro to Aperol recipe for the shake and the glass.
Bourbon plus Amaro Nonino means a Paper Plane
A Paper Plane is the equal-parts sour: ¾ oz bourbon, ¾ oz Aperol, ¾ oz Amaro Nonino, and ¾ oz lemon juice. Shake hard and double-strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish is required. A lemon peel is optional aroma if you want it.
The bottle people do not already own is usually Amaro Nonino. A different amaro is not that bottle on this site, and bourbon does not accept rye or a generic whiskey. If Nonino is not open, do not force this drink. Intro to Aperol uses the same Aperol and lemon with gin and a dash of bitters, and it skips the amaro.
Open the Paper Plane recipe when bourbon, Aperol, Nonino, and lemon are all checked. It is one shaker and four equal measures. Eyeballing the four pours is how it goes sweet.
Mezcal splits into Division Bell or Naked and Famous
Both mezcal drinks are shaken and served up. They are not the same shopping list. Phil Ward's Division Bell, from Mayahuel, is 1 oz mezcal, ¾ oz Aperol, ½ oz maraschino liqueur, and ¾ oz lime juice. Strain it into a coupe. Express a grapefruit twist over the top and discard the peel. Some other menus print 1½ oz mezcal. This page does not. A longer mezcal pour is a different drink, and checking off mezcal once does not create both specs.
Naked and Famous is equal parts, ¾ oz each of mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, and lime. No garnish. Yellow Chartreuse is the bottle the Division Bell does not use. Green Chartreuse does not cover yellow. Maraschino is the clear cherry liqueur, not the red cherries in a jar, and those cherries do not mark the Division Bell ready.
Tequila does not cover mezcal in either drink. If you have maraschino and no Chartreuse, mix the Division Bell. If you have yellow Chartreuse and no maraschino, mix Naked and Famous. If you have both, the Division Bell is the cherry-and-orange one and Naked and Famous is the herbal one. Open the Division Bell recipe and the Naked and Famous recipe for the measures.
Vodka and pineapple means East 8 Hold Up
East 8 Hold Up is the fruit drink. Aperol is the small pour, ½ oz, next to 1½ oz vodka, ¾ oz pineapple juice, ½ oz lime juice, ¼ oz simple syrup, and 1 barspoon of passion fruit syrup. Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Pineapple and lime wedges are the usual garnish. They are not required bottles.
Passion fruit syrup is its own ingredient. Passion fruit juice, puree, or the liqueur from a Porn Star Martini does not cover that barspoon. Pineapple juice is required. Without the syrup and the juice, this is not the drink to force out of a gin sour's bottles.
Open the East 8 Hold Up recipe when vodka, pineapple, lime, both syrups, and Aperol are already in the house. It is more work than a Spritz and more fruit than Intro to Aperol. It is the one to pick when the fridge already has juice.
Buy the one bottle that finishes a drink
Do not buy six modifiers for one Thursday. If Aperol is open and gin, lemon, simple syrup, and Angostura are too, Intro to Aperol is already a complete sour. If sparkling wine is the only gap, that bottle finishes the Spritz and nothing else on this list. If Amaro Nonino is the gap and bourbon and lemon are in, that bottle finishes a Paper Plane and does not help the other five.
Maraschino finishes a Division Bell when mezcal, Aperol, and lime are in. Yellow Chartreuse finishes Naked and Famous on that same mezcal and lime. Passion fruit syrup finishes East 8 Hold Up only if vodka and pineapple are already there. Buy the bottle that completes one of those, not a set.
The shopping list ranks missing bottles by how many complete recipes they finish from the pantry you checked off. Pin one drink if you want the list to stay on that gap. Water, ice, citrus peels, and the discarded grapefruit twist stay off that list. More Aperol recipes, with photos and filters, are on the Aperol hub. The full set is on all recipes.
Build the Spritz when the sparkling wine is cold. Shake Intro to Aperol when gin and lemon are out. Save the Paper Plane for Amaro Nonino, the Division Bell for maraschino, Naked and Famous for yellow Chartreuse, and East 8 Hold Up for pineapple and passion fruit syrup. The recipe pages hold the measures. Pantry and What I can make keep the ready list honest. The Aperol hub is the list if you would rather browse than choose.
Frequently asked questions
What can I mix with Aperol if I do not have Prosecco?
Shake Intro to Aperol with gin, lemon, a ¼ oz of simple syrup, and 1 dash of Angostura. A Paper Plane needs bourbon, Amaro Nonino, and lemon. A Division Bell needs mezcal, maraschino, and lime. Naked and Famous needs mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, and lime. East 8 Hold Up needs vodka, pineapple, lime, simple syrup, and passion fruit syrup.
What is the difference between a Division Bell and a Naked and Famous?
Both are shaken mezcal and Aperol sours with lime, served up. The Division Bell here is 1 oz mezcal, ¾ oz Aperol, ½ oz maraschino, and ¾ oz lime, with a grapefruit twist you express and discard. Naked and Famous is ¾ oz each of mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, and lime, with no garnish. A 1½ oz mezcal Division Bell is a different spec and is not the recipe on this site.
Does the grapefruit twist have to be in the house?
No. The Division Bell twist is expressed and discarded. It is not an ingredient in the shaker, and it does not block the drink. The orange twist on Intro to Aperol is a garnish too. Aperol, the spirit, the citrus juice, and the named liqueur or syrup are what the pantry checks.
Is Intro to Aperol the same drink as an Aperol Spritz?
No. The Spritz is 3 oz Aperol, 3 oz Prosecco, and a splash of soda, built over ice in a wine glass. Intro to Aperol is 2 oz Aperol, 1 oz gin, ¾ oz lemon, ¼ oz simple syrup, and 1 dash Angostura, shaken and strained into a martini glass. One is sparkling. The other is a sour.
