Bicicletta Vs Bicycle Thief: What's The Difference Between Cocktails?

If sunny weather makes you want to hop on a bike and ride into aperitivo hour, then chances are you might be a fan of Italian spritz cocktails. Two noteworthy bevys from this effervescent oeuvre are the Bicicletta and the Bicycle Thief. Both drinks contain Campari and club soda. But, it's different strokes for different folks, and these two sippers offer their own distinct flavors.

The Bicycle Thief is a citrusy twist on the classic negroni. Like the negroni, it uses equal parts gin and Campari. This refreshing highball adaptation also adds lemon juice, simple syrup, fresh grapefruit juice, and club soda into the mix. The grapefruit brings brightness, which is juxtaposed by the dark, heavily botanical depth of the Campari. Perhaps most notably, the club soda topper lengthens this drink into a fizzy, light, bittersweet, and citrus-forward sipper.

Also befitting aperitivo hour in Italy, when folks might be spied riding their bikes home from work or to meet friends for dinner, "Bicicletta" is the Italian word for "bicycle." This unpretentious yet impressive three-parter is perfect for beating the heat on sweltering summer afternoons — a straightforward trio of dry white wine, Campari, and club soda. It's reminiscent of another wine-based Italian classic, the Aperol spritz, but leans more sharply bitter due to the dramatic profile of Campari liqueur versus brighter, sweeter Aperol.

The Bicycle Thief is a bitter yet refreshing long-sipper that combines gin, fresh grapefruit juice, Campari, and club soda, plus acidic lemon juice and simple syrup for balance.The drink borrows its name from Vittorio De Sica's 1948 film "Ladri di biciclette." The Golden Globe-winning work follows a working-class Italian father's search to find his stolen bicycle, which he needs for a newly-acquired job. The cocktail is the brainchild of bartenders Zachary Gelnaw-Rubin and Abraham Hawkins of Dutch Kills bar in Long Island City, New York.

In Sasha Petraske's 2016 mixology handbook "Regarding Cocktails," Bicycle Thief co-founder Gelnaw-Rubin notes that the cocktail should be stirred to assemble right in the drinking glass — no shaker necessary. Although, for more homogenous mixing, a shaker can prove wildly useful in yielding an overall brighter drink. To assemble, shake the lemon juice, simple syrup, grapefruit juice, Campari, and gin with ice until chilled, then strain into an ice-filled highball glass. From there, just top the mixture with club soda to fill the glass and garnish with a grapefruit wedge or orange sail to serve.

Pro tip: If you don't have any fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice on hand, the Bicycle Thief would even perform well by omitting the juice altogether and instead topping the shaken ingredients with a chilled Ruby Grapefruit White Claw hard seltzer for fizz and extra kick. A narrower Collins glass also works here (although neither adaptation is traditional).

The Bicicletta is a sophisticated aperitivo for stimulating the appetite before dinner. It's deceptively complex for being a three-parter, ingredients-wise. The Bicicletta is all about the interplay of bright orange notes from the Campari, slowly overtaken by lingering botanical bitterness but lengthened by the dry white wine and kept light by the club soda. Although, this highly-customizable Italian spritz isn't a Campari-exclusive drink; any bittersweet red amaro will get the job done.

Per Talia Baiocchi's book "Spritz" (via Robb Report), the Bicicletta cocktail originated in the Lombardy region of northern Italy during the 1930s. The "Bicicletta" name is a nod to the visibly wobbling bicycles of the older Lombardian gentlemen commuting homes from the caffe after enjoying a spritz (or several). Biciclettas clocks in at a tame 9.71% ABV, roughly the equivalent of two hard seltzers.

To assemble, pour three parts dry white wine into an ice-filled double rocks glass, top with two parts Campari, then fill the glass to the top with club soda, stirring lightly to mix. Sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio are the most common vinos for bringing balance to a Bicicletta. Pinot grigio's bright green apple, lemon, and honeysuckle notes complement the Campari, while sauvignon blanc's grassy, vegetal taste and crisp acidity lend dimensional maturity. Biciclettas can also be served in an ice-filled, long-stemmed wine glass, garnished with a skewered olive trio and two bobbing thin-sliced orange wheels.