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Hugo Spritz Mocktail
The Hugo Spritz mocktail is the zero-proof build of the alpine aperitivo invented in 2005 by bartender Roland Gruber in Naturno, a small town in Italy's German-speaking South Tyrol. Gruber's original called for lemon balm syrup; elderflower took over as the drink spread across the Alps, and it remains the backbone here — honeyed and floral where Italy's better-known bitter spritzes cut hard. In this alcohol-free version, dealcoholized sparkling wine supplies the dry, orchard-fruit base, half an ounce of fresh lime pulls the elderflower's sweetness back into line, and a handful of slapped mint drifts over every sip like cold mountain air.
It earns its place at the same moments the original does: aperitivo hour on a warm terrace, the first golden evening of summer, any table where half the guests are drinking and half aren't. One rule matters more than any measurement — never muddle the mint. Crushed leaves turn a drink this delicate vegetal and murky, while a single sharp clap between the palms wakes the oils and leaves the glass clean. And treat the sparkling water as structure, not filler: alcohol-free sparkling wines finish slightly sweeter than a brut prosecco, and that last ounce and a half of plain fizz restores the dry edge a proper spritz is built on.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Total
- 5 min
- Makes
- 1 drink
- Calories
- ~90 per serving
Published by the NA Bar Finder editorial team
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 fresh mint leaves
- 0.75 oz (22 ml) elderflower syrup or cordial
- 0.5 oz (15 ml) fresh lime juice
- 3 oz (90 ml) chilled non-alcoholic sparkling wine, such as Noughty
- 1.5 oz (45 ml) chilled sparkling water
- Ice cubes, to fill the glass
- Mint sprig, to garnish
- Lime wheel, to garnish
How to make it
- 1
Slap the mint
Clap the mint leaves once between your palms and drop them into a large-bowled wine glass. This wakes the aromatic oils without tearing the leaves into the drink.
- 2
Build over ice
Fill the glass to the rim with ice cubes, then add the elderflower syrup and lime juice.
- 3
Pour the bubbles
Add the chilled alcohol-free sparkling wine, then the sparkling water, pouring down the inside of the glass to preserve the carbonation.
- 4
Stir and garnish
Lift the syrup off the bottom with one slow turn of a bar spoon. Garnish with the mint sprig and lime wheel, and serve immediately.
Bartender’s notes
- Fill the glass completely with ice. A packed glass melts slower than a few lonely cubes, so the spritz stays cold without turning watery.
- Elderflower syrups vary widely in sweetness — cordials usually run lighter than bar syrups like Giffard's. Start at 0.75 oz (22 ml), taste, and correct with lime rather than more syrup.
- Don't skip the sparkling water. Zero-proof sparkling wines finish sweeter than a brut prosecco, and that plain fizz restores the dry, thirst-cutting edge a spritz needs.
- Serve it in a big-bowled wine glass, not a highball; the wide bowl holds the mint and elderflower aromatics right where your nose is.
Variations
- Elderflower tonic Hugo: replace the sparkling wine and soda with 4.5 oz (135 ml) chilled elderflower tonic water for a leaner version with a light quinine edge.
- Rosé Hugo: pour Noughty's alcohol-free sparkling rosé instead of the classic white for a red-berry undertone that flatters the elderflower.
- The 2005 original: Roland Gruber first built the Hugo with lemon balm syrup, not elderflower. If you grow lemon balm, steep a handful in warm simple syrup and swap it in 1:1.
Bottles that make it better
Non-alcoholic brands from our directory that fit this build — each page lists where to find them near you.
Noughty
0.0% ABV
Thomson & Scott’s organic alcohol-free sparkling and still wines — the style-forward 0.0% pour on many top NA bar lists.
Where to find Noughty →Giffard
0.0%
Giffard is a family-owned French liqueur and syrup house founded in 1885 in the Loire Valley, now in its fifth generation of family ownership. Its non-alcoholic Aperitif Bitter syrup is a widely-used substitute for Campari in zero-proof Negronis and Spritzes, built on bitter orange, gentian root, quinquina, and spice. Giffard also produces a Spritz Alcohol Free expression. The non-alcoholic range is positioned as a cocktail-mixer rather than a bottled spirit.
Where to find Giffard →Fre
Less than 0.5% ABV (alcohol-removed)
Trinchero Family Estates’ alcohol-removed wine line — the most widely distributed NA wine in the U.S., spanning Chardonnay, Cabernet, sparkling Brut, and Rosé.
Where to find Fre →Surely
Less than 0.5% ABV (dealcoholized)
California non-alcoholic sparkling wines made from California grapes and dealcoholized — a brut and a rosé in bottles and single-serve cans, with a modern, direct-to-consumer bent.
Where to find Surely →Rather have it made for you?
These verified bars and restaurants pour hugo spritz mocktail-style builds from their own zero-proof menus — no shaker required.
ZERO Cocktail Bar
Cabbagetown
ZERO Cocktail Bar bills itself as Canada's first non-alcoholic cocktail bar, pairing a full bar with an in-house bottle shop on Carlton Street in Toronto's Cabbagetown. The menu runs to fourteen named zero-proof cocktails - from a Power Serve of alternative whiskey and ginger beer to a Sorrel Negroni of hibiscus and spiced sorrel - built on NA brands including Free Spirits, Ghia, DR ZERO and Noughty. A retail bottle shop stocks NA wines, beers and alternative spirits alongside a café menu of hot and cold coffee drinks and pub food like loaded fries and grilled cheese.
Ocean Beach Cafe
Outer Richmond
Ocean Beach Cafe is an all-day cafe, fully alcohol-free bar and non-alcoholic bottle shop at 734 La Playa Street in the Outer Richmond, one block from Ocean Beach. It was opened by career bartender Joshua James, who bills it as San Francisco's first non-alcoholic bar, and it serves scratch-made food and Four Barrel coffee alongside craft zero-proof cocktails, chai and kava. The retail side stocks one of the largest selections of non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits in the country. The cafe also runs Temperance Tastings, alcohol-free mixology classes, a private lounge called Temperance and a membership programme, Club AF. The San Francisco Standard has called it the granddaddy of the city's alcohol-free nightlife, and it is the anchor of non-alcoholic drinking in San Francisco.
HK Brewing Collective
Ballpark / Granary
A women-owned, queer-owned kombucha brewery and taproom in the Ballpark/Granary district that doubles as one of the metro's strongest zero-proof cocktail programs — winner of City Weekly's "Best Zero-Proof Cocktails" in 2024 and 2025. The taproom opened in spring 2023 inside a converted former auto-repair shop, the project of founder Hannah Hendrickson, who began brewing Han's Kombucha while at the University of Utah, and co-owner Kate Lubing. Non-alcoholic Han's Kombucha is fermented on-site, poured in a build-your-own flight, and forms the base of many crafted zero-proof cocktails on the taproom's "Free Your Spirits" list, such as the Persephone and the HK Spritz. As Lubing puts it, whether a guest is sober-curious, fully sober, a cocktail lover or a beer drinker, the space is built so everyone feels equally considered.
Pillion Tea
Mid-Town Belvedere
Pillion Tea is a fully alcohol-free tea house on West Biddle Street in Mid-Town Belvedere, open since March 2019 and built around loose leaf sold by the ounce — Keemun Hao Ya, Iron Goddess of Mercy, Yunnan Gold, and compressed sheng pu-er cakes from Ai Lao Shan and Yi Wu. The drinks program runs well past steeped tea: the shop makes its own syrups and even a housemade non-alcoholic rum, which anchors a seasonal mocktail of sticky rice pu-er shaken with coconut milk and salted banana simple syrup. House sodas pair fresh seltzer with tea and fruit syrups — Rooibos Cream Soda, Blueberry Matcha, Hibiscus & Rose Spritzer, and the Lucky Piña built on Karigane green tea and yuzu-pineapple syrup. The caffeine-free Desert Rose Latte (honeybush, spice syrup, vanilla bean, rosewater) is an homage to the family farms in South Africa, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan whose ingredients are featured in the cup. It is a daytime room rather than a night spot: closed Sunday and Monday, with a late Friday close at 7pm.
SoBar at Alchemy Coffee
Broad Street
SoBar is Richmond's alcohol-free speakeasy — a Friday and Saturday night concept that takes over Alchemy Coffee on West Broad Street after the espresso machines go quiet, with low lights, live music and a full craft cocktail list containing no alcohol at all. Operator Bobby Kruger built it as a real bar rather than a cafe staying open late: the drinks are named and composed, running from Something Blue, a blueberry-ginger mule, through the Not So Dirty Chai Martini, Cielito en Fuego, Lucid Sunset Spritz, Banana Bird and the High Priestess, plus a non-alcoholic dirty martini. With KavaClub now closed, it is the city's only regular alcohol-free night out.
Coltivare
The Heights
A garden-driven Italian restaurant in Houston's Heights neighborhood from chef Ryan Pera and Agricole Hospitality, Coltivare pairs its rustic, Gulf Coast-inflected Italian cooking with an award-winning "Zero Proof Cocktails" menu built on Houston-made Cut Above spirits, Lyre's, and Seedlip, plus non-alcoholic beer and wine.
Frequently asked
No caffeine at all. Nearly all the sugar comes from the elderflower syrup — roughly 12 to 15 grams in a 0.75 oz pour, about the same as a small glass of lemonade. Swapping the syrup and soda for elderflower tonic trims that down, and you can pull the syrup back to 0.5 oz (15 ml) without breaking the drink.
Yes. Combine the elderflower syrup and lime juice in a pitcher up to a day ahead and refrigerate. Add ice, mint, and both sparkling elements only at serving time, or the bubbles and the mint fade. Per drink, that is 1.25 oz (37 ml) of base topped with 4.5 oz (135 ml) of chilled fizz.
Made with elderflower syrup or cordial plus soda or tonic water, it contains no alcohol at all. If you use a dealcoholized sparkling wine, check the label: some, including Noughty, are labeled 0.0%, while others contain up to 0.5% ABV.