A classic Sea Breeze cocktail is sweet, sour, and super easy to make with only 3 ingredients. It’s the perfect summer drink for relaxing by the pool or at the beach!
Other refreshing cocktails to enjoy on a hot summer day include our Sex on the Beach and Blue Hawaiian!
What is a Sea Breeze Drink?
The Sea Breeze dates back to the 1950’s, but gained traction in the ’70’s and then its popularity boomed in the ’80s. It’s one of the easiest cocktails to make with only 3 ingredients: vodka, cranberry juice, and grapefruit juice. It tastes like spiked fruit punch! Poured over ice, it’s a super refreshing, pretty drink, that’s perfect for a hot day.
Sea Breeze Cocktail Recipe
How to make a Sea Breeze: The recipe we’re sharing today makes 1 cocktail. You simply pour the ingredients in a glass over ice and stir to combine. Either a tall high ball glass or short old fashioned glass works just fine. If you’re entertaining a group, make a large batch by easily maintaining the proportions and scaling up each ingredient to suit how many guests you have. (Scroll below for the complete printable recipe card and measurements.)
Recipe Notes
- Vodka: Just plain budget-friendly vodka that you would enjoy drinking straight is all you need, nothing fancy.
- Cranberry Juice: Use cranberry cocktail, like OceanSpray that contains various fruit juices in it. 100% cranberry juice will make the drink too bitter.
- Grapefruit juice: You can buy this, but since grapefruits are a year-round fruit, we recommend squeezing it fresh.
Sea Breeze Drink Variations
Vodka and fruit juice combined have always made a perfect pairing for a delicious cocktail. There are many similar to the Sea Breeze with very minor modifications.
- Sea Breeze: cranberry and grapefruit juice.
- Madras: cranberry and orange juice.
- Bay Breeze (also known as a Hawaiian Sea Breeze): cranberry and pineapple juice.
- Ocean Breeze: lemonade and blue curacao.
- Winter Sea Breeze: replace the vodka with gin.
- Use flavored vodka: Any citrus vodka would be a great base for extra flavor.
- Make it foamy: shake all the ingredients together in a cocktail shaker before pouring it into a glass, which creates a littler layer of “sea foam” on the top.
- Virgin or Mocktail Sea Breeze without alcohol: replace the vodka with ginger ale or club soda.
Other Summer Drinks
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Sea Breeze Drink Cocktail
Ingredients
- Crushed ice
- 1 1/2 ounces vodka
- 3 ounces cranberry juice (like OceanSpray – see note)
- 1 1/2 ounces grapefruit juice
Instructions
- Fill an old fashioned glass with ice.
- Pour the vodka, cranberry juice, and grapefruit juice over the ice. Stir to combine.
- Garnish with a lime wedge and maraschino cherry.
- Drink responsibly and enjoy!