Sea Breeze Recipe

WHAT IS THE SEA BREEZE RECIPE?

A taste of summer. The Sea Breeze recipe is a truly refreshing and simplistic cocktail that’s stood the test of time. 

Originally mixed in the 1920s (more on this later), it was in the 70s/80s that the Sea Breeze really took off.

Its simplicity to make combined with an enjoyable and refreshing taste meant that this cocktail became a go-to drink for summertime sessions. 

Due to the cocktail containing just three ingredients with quite simple ratios, it’s easy to scale up this recipe for a sharing pitcher.

For a 1 litre pitcher, fill it with ice and multiply the ingredient quantities below by 5 (keeping the same ratios).

HOW TO MAKE A SEA BREEZE COCKTAIL

SEA BREEZE INGREDIENTS 

50ml Vodka

100ml Cranberry Juice

50ml Grapefruit Juice

METHOD

Half fill a highball glass with ice. Pour over all ingredients and stir until chilled. 

Garnish with a lime wheel. 

Alternatively, you can shake the ingredients to aerate them to make a lighter and even more refreshing drink.

GARNISH

Lime Wheel

DID YOU KNOW

The Sea Breeze that we know today is not necessarily the original recipe.

The original Sea Breeze cocktail originated in the 1920s and was known as the Sea Breeze Cooler.

This was first published in Harry Craddock’s “The Savoy Cocktail Book” which lists a number of classic and timeless cocktails.

The Sea Breeze Cooler has a noticeably different list of ingredients to the cocktail most have come to love.

Gin is the base alcohol for this drink and is accompanied by apricot brandy, lemon juice, grenadine, and club soda.

Besides gin being used instead of vodka, you’ll also see that the Sea Breeze Cooler is missing another key ingredient – cranberry juice. 

It’s thought that the modern Sea Breeze recipe which uses cranberry juice as a primary ingredient is the result of clever and forceful marketing by Ocean Spray, a fruit juice company. 

Ocean Spray introduced the Sea Breeze recipe into recipe booklets in the 1960s with cranberry juice as the key replacement and this is thought to be where the momentum for this modern classic was built.  

WHAT TO DRINK NEXT

Following on from the above, if you want to try the Sea Breeze cocktail, why not also try out the original Sea Breeze Cooler?

Alternatively, you might also enjoy a classic Cosmopolitan.

A ‘Cosmo’ is a classic cocktail made famous by Sex and the City and features two of the key ingredients that you’d enjoy from a Sea Breeze in vodka and cranberry juice. 

The addition of Cointreau and lime juice makes this a more complex drink in terms of flavour and is just as refreshing.