BudBurst

The arrival of Summer is such a joyous time. It seems everyone is suddenly lounging in sunny gardens and enjoying gorgeous, tall, cool drinks, with fruit and jagged columns of ice. 

But I always have a problem when I go to the pub.  I'm usually a die-hard G&T drinker - I've never found anything to better this cucumber sandwich of apperitifs (though a crisp and salty Manzanilla does come within a whisker) - but with a long afternoon stretching out luxuriously past 7pm, it seems a dangerous way to start.

The classic Pimms is too sweet and sickly to manage more than a couple and lager, though refreshing in small glasses, is too filling to make the distance.

I have a, not so secret,  secret up my sleeve but unfortunately it is subject to the vagaries of each establishment. Like a Bloody Mary the exact make-up is all about the artist and I have been presented with a slapped tart too many times to count.

The tipple in question is the humble, the fey, the mocked spritzer. Yes, I admit to being a cocked- little- finger quaffer of a, I hate asking for it at the bar, "White wine spritzer, please."  Before smirking though just think; it keeps you somewhat hydrated without having to remember to drink a glass of water with every whatever it is; it's long, tall, cool and savoury enough that you don't feel sick after a few; and most importantly of all it doesn't depend on the quality of pub wine - which, let's face it, is completely unreliable. Topic for another day.

However... after warmish wineglasses full of oakily aromatic wine with the shyest splash of soda I had almost despaired of finding someone who understood this most simple of drinks and thought I must be remembering them wrongly from last Summer. So my delight has become evangelical after the perfect spritzer, care of "The Spaniards Inn" in Hampstead.  Like a Michelin starred chef still effortlessly crafting the perfect omlette, it shows the care and attention to detail that creates such high standards throughout. It had height, an elegant balance of wine and soda, and a stylish spine of spiky crystals with that elusive oyster juice pucker. Gorgeous.

I will be quite specific when ordering my spritzer from now on, catwalk models only please.