Hugo Spritz -- The Toast We—ve Made for Twenty-Nine Years

New Year's Eve, and the Hoppin' John ritual continues — the peas soaking, the ham hock simmering, the annual prayer for continuity that has been answered for ten years and that I trust will be answered for ten more, because the answering is in the cooking, and the cooking continues.

2025 is ending. The year James and Elise married. The year Carrie came home from Japan. The year I discovered RecipeSpinoff. The year the second book was accepted. The year I turned fifty-five. The year that grief softened into gratitude and gratitude became the daily practice and the daily practice became the life.

Robert and I toasted at midnight. Champagne. The piazza. Twenty-nine years of this toast. The twenty-nine is approaching thirty, which is a number that carries the weight of a generation, and the generation is ours, and the ours is the toast.

I made Hoppin' John. The peas promised continuity. The continuity was delivered. Ten years of delivery. Ten years of peas. Ten years of the woman at the stove who makes the promise and keeps it.

The Hoppin’ John was the promise, but the toast needed its own vessel — something with a little lift, a little ceremony, something that felt as light and alive as the year ending around us. Robert found the Hugo Spritz two summers ago in a little bar in the Veneto, and we’ve been making it at midnight ever since: elderflower and bubbles and mint, impossibly pretty in the piazza dark, the kind of drink that makes twenty-nine years feel like something you’d choose all over again. Here’s the recipe we raised on a year that softened grief into gratitude.

Hugo Spritz

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 3 oz prosecco, well chilled
• 1 oz elderflower liqueur (such as St-Germain)
• 1 oz club soda or sparkling water
• 2–3 fresh mint leaves, plus a sprig for garnish
• 1 slice fresh lime or lemon
• Ice cubes (large, if possible)

Instructions

1. Chill your glass. Fill a large wine glass or stemless balloon glass with ice. A generous pour of ice keeps the drink cold without diluting it too quickly.
2. Add the elderflower liqueur. Pour 1 oz of elderflower liqueur directly over the ice. Its delicate floral sweetness is the foundation of the Hugo.
3. Pour the prosecco. Slowly add 3 oz of chilled prosecco, pouring along the side of the glass to preserve as much effervescence as possible.
4. Top with sparkling water. Add 1 oz of club soda or sparkling water to lighten and stretch the drink.
5. Muddle the mint lightly. Gently press 2–3 mint leaves between your fingers to release their oils, then drop them into the glass. Do not over-muddle — you want fragrance, not bitterness.
6. Garnish and serve. Add a slice of lime or lemon to the rim and tuck in a fresh mint sprig. Serve immediately while the bubbles are lively.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 148 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 12g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 10mg