Classic Sea Breeze Cocktail

The Sea Breeze cocktail is an easy-to-make classic highball! With vodka, cranberries and grapefruit on lots of ice, it’s ultra refreshing.

Fancy a relaxed, sparkling and refreshing drink? Look no further than the Sea Breeze Cocktail! It tastes like its name: light, airy and no frills. It’s perfect for happy hour with friends, a light brunch, or a nightcap. Or pack a big pitcher for a garden party or a weekend getaway by the lake. Everything really fits here! It’s a low-alcohol cocktail that’s also low in calories. Here’s how to make this classic, tangy cocktail.

Want more cocktails? Here are all the great cocktails you should know about.

What’s in a Sea Breeze cocktail?

A sea breeze couldn’t be easier to prepare. (Okay, a vodka cranberry is even easier… but we’ll get to that later.) It’s an unpretentious highball cocktail: a drink with alcohol and a larger helping of non-alcoholic mixer. Interestingly, it’s the classic alcoholic beverage that’s on the International Bartender Association’s official IBA cocktail list! Here is the official formula for making a sea breeze cocktail:

• vodka
• cranberry juice
• grapefruit juice

All these ingredients are served on ice or with crushed ice. You just mix them with a bar spoon: no need for a shaker! While a highball glass (tall, thin glass) is the most common for a highball cocktail, you can use any glass you like.

History of the Sea Breeze

The Sea Breeze was invented in the 1920s. Back then it looked a bit like the version we have today. The first Sea Breeze used gin and grenadine! It went through a few changes until a company called Ocean Breeze emerged in the 1950s. You know, the cranberry company?

Yes, the Sea Breeze cocktail has been remastered to include Ocean Spray’s own cranberry juice! Great marketing ploy, right? They used this drink to market cranberry juice as a blender with alcohol…and we still do today.

There’s a whole family of sea breeze cranberry cocktail recipes out there! Here are the family’s favorites:

• Cape Coder: Also known as cranberry vodka, this is the simplest cranberry drink: cranberry juice and vodka.
• Madras: The Madras cocktail uses cranberry juice, vodka and orange juice.
• Bay Breeze: The Bay Breeze uses cranberry juice, vodka and pineapple juice.
• cosmo: The Cosmopolitan offers cranberry juice, Cointreau and lemon juice.
• Rum & Cranberries: The Rum & Cranberry uses rum, Cointreau and lime juice

Do you like grapefruit cocktails? Try Greyhound, Salty Dog Cocktail, Paloma, Hemingway Daiquiri or Brown Derby.

Important: Use unsweetened cranberry juice!

While most traditional versions use a Sea Breeze sweet Cranberry Juice, this recipe uses 100% cranberry juice! Here’s the thing: cranberry juice is unsweetened: has a tart taste and is labeled as “100% juice”. Cranberry Juice Cocktail is sweetened, often with high fructose corn syrup. Most cranberry cocktail recipes call for cranberry juice, but actually mean “cranberry juice cocktail.” So why use unsweetened juice here?

• It contains less sugar. Use 100% juice and the drink will contain less sugar overall.
• You can adjust the softness and make it naturally soft. To balance the taste, add sweetness to the drink. Add either maple syrup or plain syrup. Alex and I like to use maple syrup because it brings a gentler sweetness.
• The color is lighter. The color is light pink because the 100% juice is darker in color.

When to serve a Sea Breeze cocktail

This Sea Breeze cocktail is simple and festive. It’s great like:

• summer drink
• Bridal shower drink or bachelorette party drink
• girls night drinking
• Gender Reveal Party Drink (an amazing pink drink!)
• Happy hour drink
• Drink at dinner
• Brunch drink (Mother’s Day etc.)

Rather classic cocktails

Here are a few more of our classic top cocktails that you might enjoy as well:

• Tom Collins Another highball, this popular gin cocktail that’s light, tart and sparkling!
• Classic Mojito Perfectly balanced with lime, rum and fresh mint! This iconic Cuban cocktail is refreshing and just sweet enough.
• Southside Cocktail A simple and refreshing gin drink made with mint, lemon and lime: think of it like a gin mojito. Or try the Southside Fizz, the sparkling version in a long drink glass!
• Tequila Sunrise This popular highball cocktail features tequila, grenadine and orange juice in the colors of a summer sunrise.

Last update: May 2020