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'The New York Times' Sets Off Debate Over Aperol Spritz

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

You know, we cover a lot of wars on this program, and here's one that erupted yesterday.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The New York Times published a piece headlined "The Aperol Spritz Is Not A Good Drink." We are talking about prosecco, Aperol, slash a soda water, slice of orange. The piece calls it an Instagram-friendly aperitif that drinks like a Capri Sun after soccer practice on a hot day - not in a good way.

CHANG: The reaction was swift and fierce. The Internet lost its dang mind. One tweet said, this is the worst opinion of 2019.

SHAPIRO: A hard honor to win. Another tweet said, this is offensive.

CHANG: And there was a think piece arms race. New York Magazine defended the cocktail, saying, as rare as it is that something can rally all Americans to agree on a single opinion, The New York Times has done just that.

SHAPIRO: But to be fair, The New York Times was arguing that there are other ways to make a spritz sing - you could use a better booze than Aperol, you could swap out the cheap prosecco for better stuff. Well?

CHANG: Whatever.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

CHANG: I love the Aperol spritz. Are you kidding me?

SHAPIRO: Listen...

CHANG: In fact, I'm annoyed it's considered just a summer cocktail because I could drink this all year-round.

SHAPIRO: I'm not going to object anytime someone offers me a cocktail in the studio, as my producers just did.

CHANG: Thank you, Cat (ph). Thank you, Matt (ph).

SHAPIRO: Bottoms up.

CHANG: Cheers. Wait. Clink over here. Yeah. Come on, man. There we go.

(LAUGHTER)

CHANG: Wait. What's the line? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.