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• The Hugo Spritz has emerged as the trendy cocktail of the moment and successor to the Aperol Spritz.
• The recipe calls for prosecco, club soda, and elderflower liqueur, resulting in a sweet, low-ABV drink.
• A foodservice trend analyst said the French-made liqueur lends the Hugo Spritz an escapist appeal.

Last month, while mulling the menu at a trendy restaurant, a suggestion from a friend made me feel woefully out of touch.

"Why don't you get a Hugo Spritz?" the friend asked when I said I was craving a light, summery, and refreshing cocktail.

I asked what that was and was promptly met with a table full of shocked faces. Somehow, I had missed the introduction and gradual takeover of the the hottest new cocktail.

While the thirst for Hugo Spritz certainly isn't new — the recipe has been gaining momentum online for a few years, achieving fleeting virality in 2023 and capturing the attention of wealthy bar patrons in 2024 — recent data indicates that the Hugo's mainstream crossover moment has officially arrived.

In its 2024 trend report, Yelp found a 1,121% increase in searches for "Hugo Spritz" compared to the previous year. Google search volume for "Hugo Spritz" rose 122% from 2023 to 2024, and analytics show interest is even higher this summer than at this time last year. The use of the hashtag #HugoSpritz has steadily increased on TikTok over the last year, reaching peak popularity in late June and early July. Creators have been sharing their favorite takes on the recipe, gleefully adding sprigs of mint or splashes of lime juice. The trend has even inspired at least one original piano ballad, which features the standout lyric, "Cuckoo for Hugo, baby."

The Hugo Spritz has emerged as the clear successor to its Italian cousin, the Aperol Spritz. The latter enjoyed its own renaissance a few years back, arguably reaching peak popularity in the summer of 2023 — auspiciously fueled by HBO's "The White Lotus," whose celebrated second season was filmed in Sicily and aired in late 2022.

Despite its rise to ubiquity, however, Aperol — an apéritif liqueur with strong notes of orange peel and herbs — remains a polarizing ingredient. While some love its bittersweet flavor, others say it tastes thick and medicinal, akin to cough syrup.

By comparison, the Hugo Spritz is positively dessert-like. As with most spritzes, it's typically made with two parts prosecco and two parts soda water. The defining addition is elderflower liqueur — a sweet, floral spirit with such broad appeal and versatility that it earned the nickname "bartender's ketchup" in the late aughts.

St-Germain has long been considered the leader in the elderflower liqueur market, credited for inspiring a slew of copycats after its launch in 2007. The brand was acquired by Bacardi in 2013, further cementing its dominance.

Emma Fox, Bacardi's Global VP, told me via email that St-Germain has seen a 20% increase in retail sales value in the US since last year and an 11% increase over the last five years. Globally, she said the brand's market share has nearly tripled since 2019.

"We know that demand for St-Germain continues to grow, particularly this summer, as people are looking for more choice and creativity in their spritzes and discovering our lighter, brighter taste," Fox said.

St-Germain is made with hand-picked flowers from elderflower trees that grow in the French Alps. Last year, the brand took advantage of that scenery's aesthetic touchstones in a summer ad campaign featuring "Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner, which highlighted the Hugo Spritz for its "touch of French flair" and easy elegance.

Much like how Aperol benefited from its Italian roots and eye-catching cameos in the hands of glamorous onscreen Sicilians, the Hugo Spritz has an aspirational appeal in addition to its tasty flavor profile. In the right context, enjoying an effervescent, European-sourced cocktail can feel like micro-dosing a much-needed getaway.

Paige Leyden, Associate Director of foodservice, flavors, and ingredients reports at Mintel, a market intelligence agency, said she noticed the Hugo Spritz trend gain traction in the US in the wake of the campaign. She attributed the effect to a combination of celebrity influence and our positive associations with a luxurious French lifestyle.

"Travel is expensive, but there is that level of escapism when you can just go to a nice bar and sit outside and have this drink," Leyden said. "You might not be on the picturesque Mediterranean coast, but you're still kind of emulating that."

Of course, in the age of Instagram and TikTok, the power of a compelling visual cannot be overstated. It's not just that a Hugo Spritz can evoke a picturesque setting, but that the drink itself is picturesque, perfectly engineered for virality.

Leyden said her team's research has found that 54% of consumers like to order drinks they see on social media, whether because they were influenced themselves or because they see the potential to influence others — to communicate their knowledge of trends and prove their own sophistication.

On TikTok, food and drink influencers are already doing their part. "It's the perfect drink: refreshing, lemony, floral gorgeousness," creator Lex Nicoleta recently declared to her hundreds of thousands of followers while sipping a homemade Hugo Spritz. "I just think there's not a chicer drink in the world."

• Michael Shvo and partners purchased three Miami Beach hotels in 2019.
• Plans to turn them into a luxury destination were never finished, and the site remains empty.
• A new buyer is lined up, but Shvo could still match the roughly $275 million offer.

The Raleigh, a prominent condo and hotel project along the glitzy Miami Beach waterfront, could soon change hands after six years of stalled development.

Two people with direct knowledge of sales discussions said Nahla Capital, a New York City-based residential builder, has won a bidding process to purchase the property. One of those people said Nahla agreed to pay around $275 million for the project.

They requested anonymity because the sales discussions are confidential.

Real estate developer Michael Shvo, who acquired in the Art Deco district of Miami Beach in 2019 for roughly $243 million, is attempting to match Nahla's offer and retain control of the project, the two people said. They cited a provision that gives Shvo a first right of refusal on bids. To proceed, he would have to raise fresh capital to pay off his partners in the project and also potentially arrange new debt or extend his current loan.

The Raleigh development consists of three adjacent hotels in the Art Deco district of Miami Beach: the Richmond, the South Seas, and the 80-year-old namesake property, the Raleigh.

Among Shvo's chief financial backers was Bayerische Versorgungskammer, a large German pension system known as BVK that has invested in several US real estate deals with Shvo.

"BVK generally does not comment on market rumors and speculation about transactions," a BVK spokesman wrote in an emailed statement.

A deal could herald a new chapter for the project, which for years has consisted of little more than the derelict remains of the three hotels and a vacant dirt lot.

Shvo has said he would restore and redevelop the hotel properties, build an exclusive beach club and restaurant abutting a famous historic pool at the site, and raise a new ultra-high-end condo tower designed by the star architect Peter Marino.

But aside from preliminary site work, including demolition of existing structures, the development never got off the ground. In January, a team from the commercial real estate brokerage and services firm Newmark was hired by an undisclosed partner in the project to shop it to interested takers, as Business Insider has previously reported.

Helping to push a sale is the project's $190 million of debt, which was due to expire on July 16. BH3, the Miami-based commercial lender and developer that provided the loan, recently agreed to a three-month extension to allow the Nahla, or Shvo, to arrange an acquisition, one of the people with knowledge of the deal said.

Holding the property has saddled the current owners with considerable costs. As Business Insider previously reported, the group paid nearly $20 million in interest on the project's loan in 2023 alone and millions of dollars more in taxes, insurance, and other charges.

Have a tip? Contact Daniel Geiger at [email protected], via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1-646-352-2884, or Twitter DM at @dangeiger79.

• Palmer Luckey teased the idea of Auduril manufacturing American-made computers.
• Luckey joined the Reindustrialize Summit in Detroit virtually.
• The Anduril founder also emphasized the importance of working with partners to build tools.

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Anduril, the defense tech giant that makes weapons and military products, announced that it could produce American-made computers at the Reindustrialize Summit, a conference about modernizing American manufacturing, in Detroit on Thursday.

"This is one of those things where I started talking to companies years ago about this," Luckey said. "I think there's a chance that it's going to be Anduril."

Luckey added that Anduril has held conversations with "everyone you would need to have to do that," including people "on the chip side, on the assembly side, on the manufacturing side."

Anduril doesn't yet make computers, and Luckey isn't completely sold on the effort. He told the crowd: "There are some things Anduril has to do," he said. "There are other things we'd rather have other people do. This is something I'd rather have other people do."

American-made computers aren't a novel concept. PC-maker Dell had several manufacturing plants throughout the US, but in 2009, it closed its North Carolina plant and announced a change to its international manufacturing partner, moving from Ireland to Poland.

Luckey, who addressed the crowd virtually and with a humanoid robot from Foundation, also added that Anduril will not build its own humanoid robot: "We're going to partner with other companies where it makes sense," he said.

Anduril, which was cofounded by Luckey in 2017, makes hardware for the US military, including drones and underwater submersibles, and an AI-powered software platform, Lattice. The company is also working on extended reality headsets and other wearables for the military in a partnership with Meta, which the companies announced in May.

Luckey declined to share what he would name the computer if he were to make it, but hinted that "it's pro-American, and also a gambling reference, but I'll leave it at that."

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• 700 Marines remain in Los Angeles to guard federal buildings while 2000 California National Guard troops are set to depart.
• The Marine deployment follows Trump's orders, despite objections from California's governor.
• Marines face morale issues and public contempt amid protests against ICE raids in Los Angeles, an official shared.

Half of the 4,000-strong California National Guard force deployed by President Donald Trump to Los Angeles a month ago is returning home, but 700 Marines are set to remain.

As protests quickly quieted, Marines appear to now be guarding buildings that don't require such a forceful presence, leading to a lot of hanging around. Officials say their mission is mainly just "being present."

The Marines, who arrived in LA under Trump's orders amid objections from California's governor, Gavin Newsom, will continue to stand guard at three buildings — the Wilshire Federal Building, which houses the LA FBI and Veterans Affairs offices, a courthouse, and the LA Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters building. US Northern Command confirmed to BI on Wednesday that the mission hasn't changed since the Marines first arrived.

Some of those Marines, recent arrivals who took over for teammates who showed up in June, are suffering a blow to morale, with some feeling the work isn't what they joined the military for, according to a senior Marine official with knowledge of the deployment. The Pentagon did not respond to request for comment.

Such duties are far outside the norm for Marines who do not possess the same legal authorities as National Guard troops, which may conduct law enforcement within the US, though almost always at the request of their state's governor. Active-duty troops, like the Marines in LA, are barred by law from doing so, short of the president invoking the Insurrection Act.

"Their purpose is really just being a presence that is very much out in the open, showcasing kind of who they are, what they do," said the senior Marine official, who spoke to Business Insider on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

A second Marine source confirmed that Marines continue to guard the buildings, adding those stationed at the Wilshire Federal Building are dispersed at vehicle and pedestrian entry points and patrol the building's perimeter, a fairly routine task infantry personnel perform that could be seen as an opportunity to practice the skills in a delicate environment.

"There's nothing going on," said the second Marine of the atmosphere in LA after protests formed last month in response to ICE raids targeting immigrants, often without criminal histories. Other news reports have indicated that the Marines and Guardsmen remaining in LA are fighting boredom and public contempt.

Marines train for a variety of war-related tasks, which do not include anything similar to how Marines are being used in LA, the senior official said. "And I think that certainly has a degree of degradation of morale."

Infantry units like the 7th Marine Regiment in LA are trained in the Corps' most fundamental mission— locating, closing with, and destroying the enemy by a mix of fire and maneuver, Joe Plenzer, a retired Marine infantry officer, told Business Insider last month.

"Beneath the Kevlar, the eye-pro, if you see a face, the face is probably, you know, a little bit of disappointment, a little bit of 'this is not what I signed up for,'" said the senior official. "And by a little bit, I mean a lot of it."

"Let's be honest, too, there's a percentage of our Marines that are coming from backgrounds where their immediate family members are at risk of getting deported from ICE," the senior official said.

The service— which has the highest percentage of Hispanic troops compared to the other services, nearly 26% in 2022 — has found itself wrestling with new immigration enforcement policies on multiple fronts. The father of three US Marines, brutally beaten and detained by ICE agents, was released from custody earlier this week following efforts from his sons and other advocates, according to a report from Military.com.

Although active-duty Marines are generally barred from participating in domestic law enforcement, they are permitted to support the civilian agencies. The Marines, though made for a very different mission, appear to be supporting ICE more frequently.

The Pentagon ordered 200 air-support Marines to Florida earlier this month to assist with administrative oversight at ICE detention centers there. And the Corps appears to be the first and only service with a pilot program in place with ICE at three bases to ostensibly guard against access by foreign personnel, according to Military.com.

Deepening ties with ICE in Florida and at the three bases, as well as the deployment to LA, could be taking a toll on Marines worried about their families, the senior official said. "What do you think that does to them?" they said of Marines who may have family members who immigrated illegally. There could be a notable effect, they suggested, "not only morale, but just like, in terms of their ethics and their values."

"My hope is that they're quickly relieved of being in that position," he continued. "And it's no longer a thing."

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