Easy Bay Breeze Cocktail

Looking for an easy and refreshing fruity cocktail? Enter: the Bay Breeze! Also called the Hawaiian Sea Breeze, it’s one in a family of cranberry cocktails that have a vivid color and sweet tart flavor. Because the Bay Breeze features the tropical taste of pineapple, it feels carefree and beachy. It’s perfect as a summer cocktail on the patio, or a wintery cocktail when you’re dreaming of the sun’s warmth! Here’s all about how to make this tasty cocktail. Looking for more inspiration? Our top 20 cocktails you should know.

What’s in a Bay Breeze cocktail?

The Bay Breeze is part of a family of cranberry cocktails that are based on the Cape Codder (or vodka cranberry). It’s closest to a drink called the Sea Breeze, a classic drink that makes the list of International Bartender Association’s IBA official cocktails. The Bay Breeze is a tropical variation on the Sea Breeze; here’s what’s in it:

VodkaCranberry juicePineapple juice

These ingredients are served on the rocks, or with crushed ice. You’ll simply mix them all together with a bar spoon: no cocktail shaker needed! Or, you can make a layered drink, like we’ve done here!

How to make a layered drink

See those beautiful layers? With the Bay Breeze, you can make a layered drink look with the different fruit juices! Making a layered drink is easy: all you have to know is a few tricks. It’s not as simple as just pouring one juice on top of the other. Here’s how to make a layered drink:

This drink uses unsweetened cranberry juice!

Most traditional versions of a Bay Breeze use sweetened cranberry juice. But this recipe uses 100% cranberry juice! Cranberry juice is unsweetened: it tastes tart and is labeled as “100% juice”. Cranberry juice cocktail is sweetened, often with added sugars or high-fructose corn syrup. Most cranberry cocktail recipes call for cranberry juice, but they really mean “cranberry juice cocktail.” Yes, it’s a little confusing! But for this version of the Bay Breeze, Alex and I decided to use the 100% juice. Why use unsweetened juice here?

It’s got less sugar. Use 100% juice and the drink has less sugar overall.You can customize the sweetness. To balance the flavor of this drink, you can add you own desired amount of maple syrup or simple syrup. Below we’ve specified 1 teaspoon: feel free to adjust how you’d like! It can be naturally sweet. Alex and I like using maple syrup because it provides a gentler sweetness. If you prefer, you can use simple syrup.

There’s a whole family of cranberry cocktail recipes related to the Bay Breeze! It’s also called a Hawaiian Sea Breeze, Downeaster, or Paul Joseph. Here are the most popular in the family:

Cape Codder: Also known as a Vodka Cranberry, this is the simplest cranberry drink: cranberry juice and vodkaSea Breeze: The Sea Breeze is closest to the Bay Breeze: it uses cranberry juice, vodka and pineapple juiceMadras: The Madras cocktail uses cranberry juice, vodka and orange juiceCosmo: The Cosmopolitan features cranberry juice, Cointreau and lemon juiceRum & Cranberry: The Rum & Cranberry uses rum, Cointreau and lime juice