Countless new cocktails are invented every year, but they never make it onto any menu. All the more astonishing is the success story of the Hugo, which conquered the world from Naturns - specifically from the San Zeno bar, where Roland Gruber keeps mixing new creations in 2005. One of the drinks is liked by everyone. It comes as a house drink on the cocktail menu. One evening, Gruber sits with friends at San Zeno and thinks about the name of the new cocktail. "The brainstorming got out of hand to such an extent that at some point someone said, 'Well, then you can just as well call it Hugo!' The Hugo could have been called Otto, it was just the stupidest name we could think of. Who would have thought that everyone would know the name!", Gruber said in an interview.

If you don't want to use lemon balm syrup, you can also use elderberry. © Stocksy

And proudly, he notes, "The Veneziano has been extremely promoted after years of Aperol bottles gathering dust on the shelves. The Hugo has become known single-handedly. It simply won over." One question remains: Did the Hugo also make its inventor rich? "I haven't earned a dime from the Hugo itself," Gruber openly admits. After all, he never patented his Hugo, as this is also very difficult with mixed drinks. The only option would be to sell it already mixed. Says Gruber, "I experimented for a while on a canned Hugo in collaboration with a South Tyrolean company, but the result just didn't convince me." So all that remains for Roland Gruber, the inventor of the Hugo, is fame ...

Hugo

With mint

Ingredients

- 15 cl Prosecco
- 2 cl lemon balm syrup or elderberry syrup
- 1 splash soda
- mint
- ice cubes
- lemon

Preparation

- Wash the mint and put the lower leaves in a wine glass.
- Add a few ice cubes and squeeze a lemon half over it.
- Add lemon balm syrup, then pour the Prosecco; fill with soda water and stir gently.
- Pick off the upper part of the mint and use as decoration.