Making a spritz, in the classic style, calls to mind the bacari of Venice, those stand-up bars that sling bittersweet amari with prosecco and soda water in sturdy tumblers. Indeed, the drink originated in Venice, when early 20th-century Austrian soldiers began diluting Venetian wines to lower the alcohol content. Today, in cities around the world, the spritz has once again become a requisite summer beverage, served one by one on lazy afternoons or easily batched for barbecues. They’re great — until they’re boring, which, come late August, is an unfortunate reckoning.

Luckily, bartenders are always one step ahead. Inventive spritzes are now being offered everywhere from Denver to Sydney, springing free from the standard 3:2:1 ratio and the well-worn prosecco-Aperol-soda mix. In London, they’re made with tequila. In Los Angeles, with strawberry beer. For a spritz is infinitely mutable (what doesn’t play well with a float of crisp sparkling wine?) and dependably refreshing, no matter its ingredients. “When it’s super hot, you want bubbles,” says Christine Kang, one of the bartenders behind Lemon’s, a new Williamsburg, Brooklyn, hotel bar dedicated to Italian aperitifs. So, as Labor Day weekend approaches, we asked her and five other cocktail masters to dream up elevated takes on the summer stalwart.