Campari, the Italian company behind Aperol, wants Americans to order its bright orange aperitif in the same moments they would normally reach for a beer. That means pouring Aperol Spritz from a tap at bars and selling it in cans at concerts, festivals and sports venues, settings where draft beer has held the advantage for decades.
Aperol built its US following around aperitivo hour, the Italian custom of a light, low-alcohol drink before dinner, usually Aperol mixed with prosecco and soda water. Campari chief executive Simon Hunt is pushing to stretch Aperol’s appeal into hours and venues that have nothing to do with dinner, arguing the drink can compete directly with beer wherever people gather to watch sports or hear live music.
The company tested the idea abroad first. In Italy, Aperol on tap captured roughly 1.5% of the premium beer market within three months of its rollout, Hunt has said. At London’s BST Festival in Hyde Park, Campari sold 65,000 cans of a ready-to-drink Aperol Spritz over two weeks, a format it had not offered there before. Canned Aperol Spritz already sells in Britain and other European markets, and Campari is weighing whether to bring it to American shelves.
The stakes are highest in the United States, Aperol’s largest single market and a brand that accounts for roughly a quarter of Campari’s total revenue. Hunt has said about half of Americans still don’t recognize the Aperol name, so the company placed brand representatives in bars and restaurants across four states starting in February, a push Campari says nearly tripled sales in those test accounts within eight weeks. Aperol’s US bar and restaurant sales climbed 15% in the first quarter of 2026.
Whether Aperol becomes a fixture at American sports bars next depends on how the Italian tap rollout holds up over the rest of the year and whether Campari decides the canned version is ready for a wider US launch.