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Campari and Soda is the easiest, most refreshing way to drink Campari! Add club soda for a bubbly, subtly bitter cocktail.

Campari and soda
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There are so many ways to drink Campari, from sipping it chilled to the ubiquitous Negroni. But our favorite way to drink it? Plain and simple: with bubbles! Campari and Soda is one of the easiest ways to make a Campari cocktail: and it’s one of the more delicious, in our opinion. The bubbles mellow the bitterness of this liqueur, smoothing it so you can appreciate the herbal and sweet notes.

What’s Campari and Soda?

Campari and Soda is a highball cocktail made with Campari and club soda. Adding water to liquor no new concept: some of the most famous are the Gin Rickey from the 1880s and the Whiskey Highball from the early 1900’s.

But Campari and Soda is most similar to the Americano, a classic cocktail invented in the 1860’s. It features club soda, Campari and sweet vermouth and was invented in a bar called Caffe Campari in Milan, Italy: the owner of which was the inventor of Campari himself! The drink was named because of its popularity among American tourists. Campari and Soda simply skips the vermouth! So for this drink you’ll need:

Campari and Soda

Makes a sippable, low calorie drink

Mix the Campari and club soda together and take a sip: you’ll find the water smooths out the liqueur and helps you to enjoy the flavors even more. It’s almost like it stretches out the flavors, so you can taste each individually. This is why mixing bubbles with liquor has been a tradition for centuries.

Another plus for this method of making a cocktail? It’s very low in calories compared to other cocktails! One shot of Campari is 120 calories. So the Campari and Soda drink is only 120 calories, compared to 250 calories or more for a standard cocktail.

Step it up with garnishes

How to take your Campari and Soda to the next level? This drink is bright red and bubbly, and looks very sophisticated in a tall highball glass. A couple ways to make it look even more impressive:

  • Clear ice: Make homemade clear ice and cut it into large chunks: it’s the best way to make a great-looking drink!
  • Citrus wedge: This drink also looks great with an orange or lemon wedge
Campari and soda

More club soda drinks

The concept of watering down alcohol goes back hundreds of years. For example, a Wine Spritzer is wine diluted with water, which started back in the 19th century as a way to make bubbly wine. Here are a few famous cocktails that use soda water or tonic water to water down the alcohol:

When to serve a Campari and soda

Campari and Soda is bubbly and refreshing, and works in any season. It’s great for serving as a:

  • Summer drink
  • Afternoon drink
  • Before dinner drink (aperitif)
  • Cocktail hour drink
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Campari and Soda

Campari and soda
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Campari and Soda is the easiest, most refreshing way to drink Campari! Add club soda for a bubbly, subtly bitter cocktail.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 2 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 minutes
  • Yield: 1 drink 1x
  • Category: Drink
  • Method: Stirred
  • Cuisine: Cocktails
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Add the Campari and ice to the glass and stir gently. Top with the soda water.

Notes

*To convert to tablespoons, 1 ounce = 2 tablespoons

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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  1. Sonja Overhiser says:

    Let us know if you have any questions!