Seabreeze

The Seabreeze is a stand-out summer cocktail. Relatively new to the classic cocktails list its origins were formulated in the 1930s towards the end of prohibition, and while at this time the ingredients were Gin, Apricot brandy and Grenadine only a few years later a cranberry cooperative formed into the Ocean Spray brand, and the rest as they say is history!

Ocean Spray promoted cranberry juice as a mixer with alcohol, and a new Seabreeze was born, cranberry juice has since grown in popularity to become a globally recognisable commodity, in no short part to its endless health benefits, not to mention cranberry’s enduring collaboration with Vodka.

A slump in cranberry consumption during the 1960s left the Seabreeze temporarily on the shelf, but not for long as a resurgence in cranberry consumption enabled the Seabreeze to become a staple of the 1970s summer cocktail scene.

A marketing collaboration between Absolut Vodka and Ocean Spray revived the Seabreeze for the 1990s and firmly cemented this cool summer cocktail into the annuls of classic cocktails forever.

There are some nice variations on the classic Seabreeze, one of my favourites is the Hawaiian Seabreeze which substitutes grapefruit juice for pineapple juice, the only downside with the Hawaiian Seabreeze is the pineapple offers less resistance than the grapefruit juice so these can go down way too fast!

As with almost all cocktails, the Seabreeze is perfectly suited to experimentation, I find the dilution of the ice can wash out the Seabreeze a little so I like to add a little Triple Sec as it adds depth, also I find the added sweetness brings the cocktail to life, for the purist just leave the Triple Sec out.

Also the addition of Aromatic Bitters can vastly enhance the flavours of the Seabreeze, Orange Bitters will as the name suggests add a nice hint of Orange to the flavour, and Peychaud’s Bitters can take out any excess sweetness and add a little depth to the flavour.

50ml Premium Vodka
75ml Cranberry Juice
30ml Pink Grapefruit Juice
10ml Triple Sec (optional)

Shake all ingredients and strain into a glass full of ice, the recommended garnish is a lime wedge, but any citrus will do.