Spaghett Season: NYC Bars Embrace Baltimore’s Buzziest Beer Cocktail

On Tuesday night in Williamsburg, the bar at Bernie’s was awash in a vivid, unexpected shade of red. Behind the counter, bartender Lisa Morales lined up bottles of Miller High Life, Campari, and fresh lemon juice — the telltale ingredients of the summer’s most talked-about drink: the Spaghett. Born in Baltimore dive bars, this fizzy, bittersweet beer cocktail has quietly conquered New York’s summer scene, finding its way from chef afterparties to rooftop happy hours across the boroughs.

The Spaghett’s recipe is as unpretentious as its name: crack open a cold High Life, pour out a sip, add a generous slug of Campari and a squeeze of lemon. The result is a bracingly refreshing, low-alcohol sipper with just enough bitterness to cut through August’s humid haze. At Bar Meridian in Prospect Heights, manager Jordan Kim says they started offering Spaghetts on Sunday nights last month, and now they’re pulling in regulars who ask for “the red beer” by name.

It’s a drink made for these sweltering nights when the city’s energy turns languid and the only breeze is the one you make walking down Orchard Street. Outdoor patios and sidewalk tables from Astoria to the Lower East Side are filled with the clink of Spaghett bottles — a kind of anti-cocktail for those tired of fussy mixology. At $8 to $10 a pop, it’s also a rare affordable pleasure in a city where cocktail prices often push $20.

The Spaghett’s appeal goes beyond novelty. Bartenders say it’s a crowd-pleaser that bridges generations and tastes: it’s light enough for those skipping hard liquor, but complex enough for cocktail nerds. On the Upper West Side, the old-timers at Galway Hooker have taken to ordering Spaghetts alongside their usual pints, swapping stories about beach weekends and heat waves past. Meanwhile, at a Tuesday trivia night in Bushwick, a trio of Gen Z friends toasted their Spaghetts, delighted by the drink’s unlikely origin story.

Whether you’re ducking into a bar to escape the sun or lingering on a breezy fire escape, the Spaghett is having a thoroughly New York moment. No longer just Baltimore’s secret, it’s the spontaneous, smile-inducing answer to the city’s late-summer thirst.