Passionista Spritz

This refreshing drink, which gets its tang from passion fruit juice and lemon juice, comes from John Benevides, the bar manager at SRV in Boston.
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passionista spritz cocktail with white vermouth

Recipe by John Benevides

This recipe originally appeared in our Summer 2020 issue. Get the magazine here.

Start to Finish: 25 minutes

Makes 2 cocktails

Ingredients

  • 1 cup turbinado (raw) sugar
  • 1 large cinnamon stick
  • 3 oz. bianco (sweet white) vermouth, such as Alessio Bianco
  • 1 1/2 oz. passion fruit juice cocktail
  • 1 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Ice
  • 6 oz. chilled Prosecco
  • Chilled club soda, for topping
  • 6 dashes Angostura bitters

Preparation

1. In a small pan, heat the turbinado sugar with 1 1/ 3 cups water over medium-high, stirring often, until the water comes to a simmer and the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon stick, stir again, and remove from heat. Let the cinnamon syrup stand until it cools to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Strain into a lidded jar. (Any leftover syrup will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.)

2. Add the vermouth, passion fruit juice, lemon juice, 1 1/4 oz. cinnamon syrup, and salt to a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until cold, 5 to 10 seconds. Strain into 2 glasses filled with ice. Top each glass with 3 oz. prosecco, a splash of club soda, and 3 dashes of bitters. 

Tip: All dry vermouth is white, but not all white vermouth is dry. While most sweet vermouth is made with red wine, this recipe calls for a sweet white vermouth.