Bay Breeze

Pineapple juice. It carries proteins and fine pulp that whip into a pale head the moment they are agitated, which is why bars shake this one even though it is built in the glass. Shake the pineapple with ice for ten seconds and float it over the top.

It is often better than fresh here. Juice pressed from a whole pineapple is thick, aggressively sweet and turns bitter within hours. The canned kind is consistent and foams more readily. Shake the can before you open it, because the pulp that does the foaming settles at the bottom.

Too much pineapple, or you stirred it. At 60 ml each the two juices sit close in volume and blend to a muddy orange the moment they mix. Pour the pineapple over ice first, then the cranberry down the side of the glass, and leave it alone.

This one, by a distance. Grapefruit brings acid and a little bitterness to a Sea Breeze. Pineapple brings sugar and almost no bite, so nothing in a Bay Breeze pushes back. The lime wedge is not decoration. It is the only sour element in the glass.

A classic Bay Breeze calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Vodka, 60 ml (2 oz) Cranberry juice, 60 ml (2 oz) Pineapple juice. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Bay Breeze is roughly 11% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it a relatively light, sessionable drink — similar in strength to a beer.

A Bay Breeze is stirred, not shaken. It contains no citrus juice, so stirring keeps it crystal clear and silky instead of cloudy and aerated.