Sea breeze (cocktail)

Sea breeze
IBA official cocktail
Sea breeze
TypeMixed drink
Base spirit
ServedOn the rocks: poured over ice
Standard garnishlime slice
Standard drinkware
Highball glass
IBA specified
ingredients†
PreparationBuild all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge.
Sea breeze recipe at International Bartenders Association

A sea breeze is a cocktail containing vodka with cranberry juice and grapefruit juice.[1] The cocktail is usually consumed during summer months. The drink may be shaken in order to create a foamy surface.[1] It is considered an IBA Official Cocktail.[1]

The drink follows the classic cocktail principle of balancing strong (alcohol) with weak (fruit juice) and sweet and sour.[1][2]

A bay breeze, or a Hawaiian sea breeze, is similar to a sea breeze except for the substitution of pineapple juice for grapefruit juice.[2][3] It is also closely related to the Cape Codder (which lacks the grapefruit juice) and the Salty Dog (which lacks the cranberry juice and is made with a salted rim).[4]

History

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The cocktail was born in the late 1920s, but the recipe was different from the one used today, as gin and grenadine were used in the original sea breeze.[5] This was near the end of the Prohibition era. In the 1930s, a sea breeze had gin, apricot brandy, grenadine, and lemon juice.[6] Later, a Sea Breeze recipe would contain vodka, dry vermouth, Galliano, and blue Curaçao.[6]

In the 1930s, a cranberry growers' cooperative evolved into Ocean Spray, which promoted cranberry juice as a mixer with alcohol, first with gin and later with vodka.[4] Ocean Spray created the Red Devil, later called the harpoon or Cape Codder, in 1945,[7] and its descendants such as the greyhound, the salty dog, the bay breeze, and the sea breeze were later created.[4] Starting in the 1960s, the breeze drinks were sporadically in the top ten most popular mixed drinks.[4]

According to some, the sea breeze, along with the Cape Codder and bay breeze, did not become very popular until the 1970s.[8] This was because in 1959, the U.S. Department of Health stated that cranberry crops were tainted with toxic herbicides, collapsing the cranberry industry.[8]

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Seabreeze - Cocktails - Flavour Essences". Still Spirits. Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  2. ^ a b Eatoutzone. "Cocktails with Vodka". Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
  3. ^ Harvard Student Agencies (2000). The official Harvard Student Agencies bartending course. Macmillan. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-312-25286-1.
  4. ^ a b c d Dale DeGroff (2008). The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 332. ISBN 978-0-307-40573-9.
  5. ^ Cocktail Idea. "Sea breeze cocktail recipe". Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 8 November 2007.
  6. ^ a b Salvatore Calabrese (2006). Classic Cocktails. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-1-4027-3910-1.
  7. ^ "With cranberry juice he adds vodka and a dash of fresh lime and comes up with a "Red Devil Cocktail."" (Ocean Spray's Cranberry Cooperative News: Volumes 6-10 by Cranberry Canners, Inc., 1945)
  8. ^ a b Cheryl Charming; Susan Bourgoin (2009). Knack Bartending Basics: More Than 400 Classic and Contemporary Cocktails for Any Occasion. Globe Pequot. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-59921-504-4.
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