LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2025

PUTTING ON THE SPRITZ

Spritz Spheres Take a page out of pro bartenders’ pre

batching techniques by freezing “cocktail spheres” (or cubes) in advance. It sounds— and looks—next-level, but it’s actually a pretty simple technique, as long as you add enough water to proof it down. Alcohol freezes at colder temperatures than water but anything around five per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) should freeze up nicely overnight.

GRINCH SPRITZ P. 161 Since the prep for this cocktail is done the day before, when the melon-flavoured ball is mixed up and frozen, this Spritz makes a great welcome drink: just add bubbles and garnish. And since it’s as easy to make a batch of ice spheres as it is to make one, it’s also a great candidate for scaling up to serve a crowd. CONTAINS Melon liqueur, lime, sparkling wine HOLIDAY QUOTIENT Festive hits of pomegranate and mint

Find these coupe glasses in-store or online at LCBO.com.

Spritz 101 Set yourself up for spritz success by chilling down the sparkling wine to fridge tem perature in advance (and 30 minutes in the freezer right before serving can’t hurt).

FORMULA 3-2-1 The classic spritz ratio is three parts fizzy wine, two parts bitter aperitivo and one part soda water. Treat that as more of a loose guideline than a law when riffing on the spritz with fresh flavours and new ingredients.

KEEP IT DRY A super-sweet wine can easily throw a spritz off-balance, espe cially since bitter aperitivos generally have a little sweetness added for balance. Look for dry or off-dry bubbly.

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