The Story Behind The Sea Breeze

The Sea Breeze is a thirst-quenching delight boosted by cranberries and grapefruit, made ideally for sipping on a chaise and looking out over the ocean.

Known as a 1980s classic, the Sea Breeze actually originated after the cranberry scare of 1959, after a contaminated bog of carcinogenic cranberries hit the market. Quickly, the U.S. secretary of health advised citizens to stay away from the fruit entirely if they weren’t certain of its origin.

To combat that, a cranberry farmer’s collective known today as Ocean Spray began to publish booklets with cranberry-filled recipes ranging from sweet to savory to boozy. One such booklet included a cranberry-forward cocktail made with vodka and grapefruit that we know today as the Sea Breeze. The drink began to take off as a pool party punch in the 1970s and has remained a summertime favorite ever since.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ounces vodka
  • 2 1/2 ounces cranberry juice
  • 2 ounces freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
  • Garnish: lime wheel

Directions

  1. Fill a highball glass with ice.
  2. Add the vodka, cranberry juice, and grapefruit juice and stir gently to combine.
  3. Garnish with lime slice.

Rate This Recipe:

(4 votes)

Yield: 1
Calories: 173
Updated: 2022-06-01

The Sea Breeze Recipe