The Sea Breeze Cocktail is a variation on the Cape Codder Highball that uses less cranberry juice and adds a measure of grapefruit juice. It’s a great variation, worth trying if you like either Cape Cods or Salty Dogs or any of the other cranberry versions.

The Sea Breeze Cocktail recipe

The best recipe I have found combines over ice in a tall glass:

• 1.5 oz. vodka
• 3 oz. cranberry juice
• 1 oz. grapefruit juice
• lime wedge, for garnish

The Sea Breeze cocktail is a worthy variation on the Cape Cod or Cape Codder, at least in my opinion. The addition of grapefruit does two things to the drink that make it better than the Cape Cod: first, it adds a sour note that offsets the sweetness of the cranberry. Cranberry juice isn’t overly sweet, but it does have a lot of sugar in it to balance out the slight tartness of the cranberries. The grapefruit juice, though, makes it so much easier to drink because it isn’t like Kool-Aid anymore.

And that brings me to the second reason the Sea Breeze is better than the Cape Codder:

It is a more complex drink.

The Cape Codder almost seems like a child’s drink, a drink with no variation, simply vodka and cranberry with a sophisticated sounding,fancy name.

The Sea Breeze, however, is something different. It has a terrible, silly name, okay. But the addition of the slightly bitter grapefruit juice balances the drink and makes it subtler, an adult version of the Cape Codder. The Cape Cod is in your face with its sweetness but the Sea Breeze is laid back, and its complexity makes it more pleasing.

So when you’re at your next work function, and they’re serving Cape Cods, ask if they have some grapefruit juice. Even canned is fine. Not quite a good, but still worth drinking.