The drink of the summer is a sign of a recession

Business Insider

27-07-2025

Every year, it feels like there are multiple claimants to the title of "drink of the summer." For the fancy, maybe 2025 is the year of the Hugo spritz. But if your finances are a little more stretched, which a lot of people's are, you might be opting for this year's more economical option: the Spaghett. Also known as the NASCAR spritz, the hobo Negroni, or the trailer park spritz, the drink consists of a bottled beer — often a Miller High Life — topped up with a splash of Aperol and maybe some lemon juice (a lot of people don't bother with the last bit). It's a way to fancy up your drink without fancying up the price tag too much. And the Spaghett's popularity has been on the rise, as more drinkers feel increasing pressure on their wallets. Recession indicator? Maybe. Let's call it the recession Aperol spritz.
Data from the payments platform Square shows that orders for Spaghetts in the first half of 2025 are up by 65% from last year, and since 2022, Spaghett orders are up by 1000%. The number of Spaghetts showing up on bar receipts has risen over the past five years, per Square's data. Google searches for Spaghetts have spiked this summer.
Much of the interest is organic — Spaghetts are appearing more on menus, they're easy to make at home, and the word is spreading about their existence, both on social media and in real life. There's also been a corporate effort to make Spaghetts more of a thing. Miller High Life introduced the Spaghett-sicle in July, a push-pop version of the drink. Though, the $79 price tag for a six-pack is not as wallet-friendly as the regular version you'd find at a local dive or the one you could concoct in your kitchen. Given that an Aperol spritz could easily run you $15, the cost of the knock-off beer version is part of the draw.
"Sparkling wine comes with that assumed price tag because it doesn't really matter what people are paying for it on the backend; they're still going to charge you a fair amount," says Tom Brander, the beverage director at Wilder, a restaurant in Philadelphia. "At a dive bar, you can just get a little bit of Aperol."
The origin of the Spaghett can be traced back to Wet City Brewing in Baltimore in the mid-2010s, where a bartender created it as a sort of " bastardized Aperol spritz." Part of the Spaghett's allure has been that it's familiar to those who work in bars and restaurants. It's sort of a secret menu item. Stuart Wellington, the owner of Hinterlands, Minnie's, and Commonwealth in Brooklyn, jokes it's a drink for "service industry nerds and other weirdos that are in the know." It trickled out across the city, region, and eventually the country from there, getting a Bon Appétit writeup in 2019.
"Nobody could have foreseen that this silly little one-off cocktail would be this big," says Alexander Rudy, a bartender in Austin who used to live in Baltimore. "It's kind of like an industry handshake."
Jacquelyn Caldwell, an associate brand marketing manager for Miller High Life, says the brand has seen the Spaghett gain "steady momentum," especially over the past year. "It started as a bartender favorite in dive bars — mixed directly in the High Life bottle, no frills, just great flavor. From there, it evolved from an under-the-radar pick to a popular choice," she says.
There are a lot of facets to the Spaghett's appeal. It's simple to make — you crack open a beer, maybe pour a little out or drink one swig, and then just toss in a half a shot of Aperol. The aperitif adds complexity to a drink without a lot of effort. While it's typically created with a High Life, you can attempt it with other beers, too. One bartender tells me Aperol in a hazy IPA is "fire." The people serving them up also appreciate the simplicity.
"Pricier drinks take time to assemble, so the ability to churn out a round of drinks quickly, even if they are less expensive, is important when it is busy," says Frederic Yarm, a bartender and writer in Boston.
In an era of more people watching their alcohol intake, the Spaghett has a relatively low ABV compared with a lot of other options. The drink is a sort of orangey-pink, it plays into the bottled cocktail trend, and it's just kind of fun to say the word "Spaghett."
"With the popularity of the Aperol spritz, you can only have so many until you're ready to venture into the next thing," says Julianna McIntosh, the founder of Join Jules, a cocktail blog, and the author of the book "Pretty Simple Cocktails." It's a lot of guys who drink Spaghetts, but it appeals to women, too. "It's a way easier way for, I would say, to get the female demographic into beer," McIntosh says.
Chances are, you're not going to find a Spaghett on the menu at a high-end cocktail bar or expensive restaurant. It's one you come across in dive bars and more middle-of-the-road establishments, if it's on the menu at all — a lot of the time, you just have to ask for it.
When Mawuli Grant Agbefe, a substitute teacher and Spaghett fan in Chicago, first started ordering Spaghetts, he'd sometimes have to explain what it was to the bartender. But he's started to notice it pop up on menus over the past year or two. He likes the taste, and he thinks it's an especially good option when it's hot out. "Before I got into the Spaghett, I liked the Miller High Life plain, but after a bunch of High Life over the years, you kind of want to gussy it up sometimes," he says.
Part of the charm of beer cocktails is making something not special a little special. The other part of the equation: the price. Trading down from an Aperol spritz to a Spaghett usually puts a few bills back in your pocket, while swapping a regular beer for a Spaghett isn't going to break the bank, especially if the regular beer is cheap to begin with.
Wellington, the Brooklyn bar owner, calls Miller High Life his "recession beer." "I've definitely noticed within a certain portion of my, let's say, moderately employed regulars, they went from drinking draft beer to switching over to just drinking High Lifes," he says. His average weekly order of High Life has gone up "considerably" over the past five years. Wellington has a buddy who has a full Spaghett setup at home, complete with a premixed squeeze bottle of Aperol and lime juice. Though he felt like they really hit last summer, he still sees them around and orders them himself. The idea of turning a beer into a Spaghett "has a little bit of, 'Oh, we're going something fun today,'" he says. The Spaghett is also cheaper than the other bar insider's secret combo — a beer and a shot of Fernet.
"As consumers are looking to pull back a bit on spending and shift to lower ABV beverages, we've seen a rise in the popularity of beer cocktails — across restaurants on Square, orders for Spaghetts and other beer and spirit mixes have been increasing over the past few years," says Ming-Tai Huh, the head of food and beverage at Square.
After a bunch of High Life over the years, you kind of want to gussy it up sometimes.
When I ask bartenders how much they charge people for the Spaghett, particularly if it's not on the menu, most of them laugh. One says they'll add a dollar or two onto the price of the beer they use as the base. Another says they may double the price of the already-inexpensive beer, or add the Aperol on as a shot. Others admit it's a bit of an it-depends situation — they might just let the splash of Aperol go and charge only the beer.
When people are nervous about the economy, they start to look for ways to get more bang for their buck. They trade restaurant visits for meals at home. They switch international vacations for more local destinations. Alcohol can be a place where people do some amount of splurging — who among us has been at a bar and had a drink or two more than anticipated? But they also find ways to cut corners. They buy alcohol in smaller bottles, or they try to find options that still do the trick, inebriation-wise, without breaking the bank.
I'm not really a beer gal, and until recently, I had not heard of the Spaghett. I did go try one at a local bar, and let's just say it's not for me. But it is for plenty of other people. When I mentioned it to a coworker, they sent me a picture of their pink-hued High Life from the Fourth of July weekend. At a work event, I brought Spaghetts up to a stranger in passing, and he raved about them — this summer, they're his main drink. And whatever your liquor proclivities, once you start to notice a beer cocktail in one place, you notice them everywhere — the Corona sunrise, the beermosa, the lagerita, the shandy. Beer companies are finding ways to zhuzh it up for price-conscious drinkers in other ways, too, and consumers are biting. Garage Beer, a Midwestern beer startup backed by the Kelce brothers, says its lime version is now outselling its regular light version.
As much as Americans are becoming more conscious about their drinking habits, they're still drinking plenty. And in many cases, they're seeking cheaper ways to do it. After all, a lot of the reason Gen Z has been late to booze is that they can't afford it. After years of inflation, economic turmoil, and now, tariffs, consumers are strained. They're finding ways to stretch their buck, whether that's stocking up on frozen pizza or buying fewer snacks. When they do imbibe, many are looking for lower-cost options. The Spaghett is budget-friendly while still a little fun. And if it sounds a little gross, McIntosh says to give it a whirl anyway — you might be surprised. "Don't knock it till you try it," she says. "It's actually really, really fun."