The Spagett is what happens when a bartender looks at the elegant Aperol Spritz and decides it would be funnier in a beer bottle. Invented in 2016 at Wet City Brewing in Baltimore, it is nothing more than a cold Miller High Life with a shot of Aperol and a squeeze of lemon poured in through the neck. The high-brow bitter orange aperitivo meets the most low-brow lager in America, and the joke turns out to taste genuinely good: bitter, citrusy, barely alcoholic, and absurdly easy to make. It is the rare drink that needs no glass, no ice, and no apology.
We named it Spagett because it's a bastardized Aperol Spritz.
PJ Sullivan, Wet City Brewing Co.History
The Spagett was created in 2016 by bartender Reed Cahill at Wet City Brewing in Baltimore. The name is a reference to the spaghetti-eating character from the sketch show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! — a fittingly absurd handle for a drink that pours a refined Italian aperitivo into a bottle of the self-styled "Champagne of Beers."
It spread fast. Bon Appétit's Alex Delany declared it his official drink of summer in 2018, and the recipe — already about as simple as a recipe can be — needed no adaptation to travel. Any cold American lager and any bottle of Aperol will do; the Miller High Life is half the punchline and half the point.
The Spec
There is almost nothing to it. Take a few sips off a cold bottle of Miller High Life to make room, pour in 1 oz Aperol and 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice, and drink it straight from the bottle. The lemon is what keeps it from going flabby — without it the Aperol's sweetness has nothing to push against.
Why Miller High Life
A crisp, dry, lightly sweet American lager is the right canvas: cold and effervescent enough to read as a spritz, neutral enough to let the Aperol do the talking. The High Life's clear bottle also shows off the orange tint, which is most of the charm. Any comparable lager — Coors Banquet, a basic pilsner — works just as well; this is not a drink that rewards a hazy IPA.
Keep the lemon fresh
Bottled lemon juice tastes flat and faintly metallic, which a three-ingredient drink has nowhere to hide. Squeeze it to order. A wedge tucked into the neck of the bottle does double duty: garnish, and a top-up squeeze as you drink.
Bottom Line
The Spagett is a bar trick that earned its keep. It is low in alcohol, takes thirty seconds, and tastes like the Aperol Spritz's scruffier, more honest cousin. Serve it at a cookout in the bottle it came in and let the label do the explaining.