A spritzer is a tall, chilled drink, usually made with white wine and soda water.

The word comes from the German spritzen "spatter, squirt, spray, sprinkle", i.e. adding water and thus diluting the wine so that it can be consumed in larger, thirst-quenching amounts without the negative effects of excessive alcohol.

Spritzer is a false friend with respect to the name of the drink in most of Germany, where the word "Schorle", which derives from French, is used. However, in Austria, Spritzer is the normal term, together with the more common form (a noun derived from the past participle of spritzen), Gespritzter (mostly pronounced G'spritzter), a term also found in some German regions, such as Hessen (e.g. Süssgespritzter, i.e. a "sweet spritzer" using fizzy lemonade (e.g., Sprite) instead of soda water ("Sauergespritzter"). In Hessen, however, "gespritzt" usually refers not to a wine/water or wine/lemonade mix but to a mixture of soda water or lemonade and Apfelwein (in Hessian dialect, Ebblwoi), an alcoholic drink from fermented apple juice somewhat similar to (hard) cider but distinctly non-sweet.

In Austria and Germany a "Radler" is a beer combined with lemon soda. For this reason the most common type of beer used in a Radler is Export.

Wheat beer with lemon soda is common only in the Munich-area and known there as a Ruß (russian), for legend tells, it was invented in the Munich beer hall "Matthäser", then a meeting place of russian exilees before the 1917 October Revolution.

Non-alcoholic Spritzer

In the United States, some non-alcoholic carbonated juices are sold as spritzer, including OceanSpray Juice Spritzers. The same type of carbonated juice (actually made with juice and carbonated mineral water) is known in Germany as Saftschorle or Fruchtschorle. (Both short for rarely used Fruchtsaftschorle.) Particularly Apfelschorle (apple juice spritzer) is one of the most popular soft drinks in Germany.

See also

• alcoholic beverage
• Shandy

Alcoholic beverages

Schorle