Above Board Bitter Orange Aperitif is a bold, bittersweet orange aperitif with 0g sugar per serving.

Yes, it makes a beautiful spritz. It also stirs into a Negroni, shakes into a Paper Plane, and warms up to fall apples and winter bourbon. This isn’t a summer bottle. It’s a year-round one.

If your go-to is an Aperol Spritz or a Campari Negroni, this is your new bottle. Same drinks. Same glass. You just change what you pour.

One bottle, every season

Bitter orange is one of the most useful flavors behind the bar, because it plays well with almost everything. Here’s how we pour it all year:

• Fall: the Orchard Spritz with fresh apple and sparkling rosé, and the Paper Plane with bourbon and lemon.
• Winter: the Negroni by the fire, stirred and served over one big cube.
• Spring: the Bitter Orange Margarita with tequila and fresh citrus.
• Summer: The Above Board Spritz, and the Jungle Bird with dark rum and pineapple.

Gin, bourbon, tequila, rum, prosecco, rosé. Whatever you already have on the shelf, Bitter Orange Aperitif has a drink for it.

What is an aperitif, anyway?

An aperitif is a drink made to open the appetite before a meal. In Italy, the hour before dinner even has a name: aperitivo. The bittersweet orange kind of aperitif is technically a liqueur. Liqueur is the flavored, sweetened cousin of liquor, and it’s usually where the sugar in a cocktail hides.

That’s the surprise with bitter aperitifs. They taste dry and grown-up, so most people never think about sugar. But that bitterness has to be balanced by something, and in a traditional bottle, that something is sugar.

Why we made Bitter Orange Aperitif

Above Board exists for one reason: liqueurs give classic cocktails their balance and body, and traditional liqueurs are loaded with sugar. We keep everything the liqueur does in the glass and leave the sugar out.

Bitter Orange Aperitif is the fifth bottle in our line:

• Crafted without sugar: 0g sugar per serving.
• Sweetened with plant-based allulose instead of cane sugar, so the bitter orange comes through instead of tasting like candy.
• Certified gluten-free.
• 24% ABV (48 proof) and 120 calories per 2.5 oz pour.
• Made by a woman-owned company right here in San Diego.

You don’t have to change how you drink, just what you pour.

The Above Board Negroni

The drink bartenders judge every bitter aperitif by. Equal parts, stirred, and poured over one big cube.

• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz Above Board Bitter Orange Aperitif
• 1 oz sweet vermouth

Method: Add everything to a mixing glass with ice and stir until very cold. Strain over a large ice cube and garnish with an orange wheel.

Want it even lower in sugar? Sweet vermouth is a wine, and it carries its own sugar. Swap it for ¾ oz dry vermouth and ¼ oz Above Board Original Simple Syrup (0g sugar per serving) for a lighter Negroni that still drinks rich.

The Paper Plane

A modern classic with bourbon, bitter orange and bright lemon. It’s equal parts, it’s shaken, and it might be the best fall cocktail you’re not making yet.

• ¾ oz bourbon
• ¾ oz Above Board Bitter Orange Aperitif
• ¾ oz amaro
• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice

Method: Shake hard with ice and double strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish needed, though a lemon twist never hurts.

This is our better-for-you Paper Plane. The amaro brings some sugar of its own, but swapping in Bitter Orange Aperitif takes the sugar out of the bitter aperitif half of the drink, without losing any of the bittersweet orange that makes a Paper Plane a Paper Plane.

For fall: the Orchard Spritz

Spritz season doesn’t end in summer. This one brings fresh apple and sparkling rosé together for a crisp fall pour.

• 1 ½ oz Above Board Bitter Orange Aperitif
• 1 ½ oz fresh apple juice
• 3 oz sparkling rosé

Method: Build the Aperitif and apple juice over ice in a large wine glass and stir to chill. Add more ice, then top with sparkling rosé. Garnish with a dehydrated apple and a lemon slice.

Made with Above Board, the Orchard Spritz comes in at about 164 calories and 5.2g of sugar, and nearly all of that comes from the apple juice and the rosé. Made the traditional way, the same drink carries about 199 calories and 15.8g of sugar.

And yes, the spritz

We’d never leave it out. The Above Board Spritz is three ingredients and about thirty seconds from bottle to glass.

• 2 oz Above Board Bitter Orange Aperitif
• 3 oz prosecco
• 1 oz soda water

Method: Build over ice in a wine glass, give it one gentle stir, and garnish with a wide orange slice. Reach for a Brut prosecco: “Extra Dry” sounds drier, but it’s actually the sweeter style.

Find the Bitter Orange Margarita, the Jungle Bird and more on our cocktail recipes page.

For bars and restaurants

Bitter Orange Aperitif isn’t a seasonal SKU. It works on your menu all year: a Negroni and Paper Plane for fall and winter, a spritz and Jungle Bird for the patio. It drops into the builds your team already knows, with no new technique and no extra prep, and it gives guests who are watching their sugar a reason to order a second round. Request a tasting for your team.

Try it for 20% off

Celebrate the launch with 20% off Bitter Orange Aperitif through December 31, 2026. Use code SPRITZ20 at checkout on drinkaboveboard.com, where bottles are fulfilled and shipped by our licensed retail partner. You can also ask for Above Board at your favorite bar.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a sugar-free alternative to Aperol and Campari?
Yes. Above Board Bitter Orange Aperitif is a bittersweet orange aperitif crafted without sugar, with 0g sugar per serving. Use it in a spritz, a Negroni, a Paper Plane or a Jungle Bird, anywhere you’d reach for a traditional bitter aperitif.

Is Bitter Orange Aperitif just for spritzes?
Not at all. It’s a year-round bottle. Stir it into a Negroni, shake it into a Paper Plane or a margarita, or pair it with apple and rosé for a fall spritz. It works with gin, bourbon, tequila, rum and sparkling wine.

What is Bitter Orange Aperitif sweetened with?
Plant-based allulose, instead of cane sugar. It has 0g sugar per serving, it’s certified gluten-free, and it’s 24% ABV.

Here’s to every season of aperitivo. Cheers from all of us at Above Board.

Please enjoy responsibly. Must be 21 or older to purchase.

Sources: Above Board figures from our product label (0g sugar and 48 calories per fluid ounce, 24% ABV). Orchard Spritz figures from the Above Board Cocktails 2026 Recipe Book, where the traditional build uses category-typical values for a bitter aperitif, with no brand named.