The ultimate guide to the Hungarian fröccs

The fröccs (spritzer, wine with soda) is a beloved and versatile beverage that can be drunk in every season. The watered down version of wine has grown to be a Hungaricum, however, most people get confused when bartenders ask what kind of fröccs they’d like. But don’t worry, funzine.hu collected everything you need to know about this special drink.

The wine

Let’s start with the basics, which is the alcohol. Despite certain beliefs and rumours, you can’t make fröccs with any kind of wines, and you shouldn’t opt for the cheapest versions when choosing the base for your drink. Even though it is cost-effective, soda won’t make cheap wines taste any better. Not to mention the horrible headache it causes the next day, even if you drink water along the way.

The best fröccs is usually made from white or rosé wines. Red wine is a rare choice, but it can also work out sometimes. Sparkling wine is a great thing, but it’s better left out from fröccs, just like full, long-mellowed wines. However, it is important that the wine should be cold when the soda is added, because ice-cubes don’t go well with any wine creations.

The soda

Yes, soda, not sparkling water. At least, traditionally. Of course the chances of finding soda siphons in small shops are quite minimal, but you should watch out for buying green capped water instead of the blue capped sparkling ones. You can strike a snag if you accidentally buy flavoured water or even worse, water enriched with minerals. Try to keep these away from wines.

The mixing

You’ve found the perfect wine and soda, so what’s next? Naturally the making and mixing of the drink. This is the part which is highly recommended for those who are mostly hesitating in front of the bar: here are the proportions and their most common names.

• Kisfröccs (or rövidlépés, fütty ~ small fröccs/small step/whistle) – 1 dl wine, 1 dl soda
• Nagyfröccs (or hajtás, húzás ~ big fröccs/drive/draw) – 2 dl wine, 1 dl soda
• Hosszúlépés (~long step) – 1 dl wine, 2 dl soda
• Házmester (~janitor) – 3 dl wine, 2 dl soda
• Vice-házmester (~underjanitor) – 2 dl wine, 3 dl soda
• Háziúr (~landlord) – 4 dl wine, 1 dl soda
• Albérlő ( or Sportfröccs ~underlessee/sport fröccs) – 1 dl wine, 4 dl soda
• Magyar-angol (~Hungarian-English) – 6 dl wine, 3 dl soda