The Intoxicologist Is In

An interesting twist to the Sea Breeze came to my attention this weekend in the form of the Sea Breezetini, found while flipping through Sexy City Cocktails by Sheree Bykofsky and Megan Buckley.  The Sea Breeze is a highball cocktail, but the Sea Breezetini is served in a cocktail glass and has the unique addition of Campari. 

Campari falls within the category of liqueurs; however it is more aptly an Italian form of bitters that has been around since the mid to late 1800’s.  While the recipe is a closely guarded secret, the flavor profile consists of anise, orange peel, licorice, rhubarb, ginseng, quinine, and bergamot oil.  There are up to sixty ingredients infused into this one aperitif to give Campari its most unusual flavor.  The most common cocktails one would find Campari used in is the Negroni and the Americano. 

The flavor of Campari is a tad on the dry side to say the least.  While it is classified with liqueurs, it is far from sweet.  Campari is definitely bitter.  The bitterness factor is what made this particular addition to the traditional sweet Sea Breeze interesting.  At first taste in the recipe on hand, I found the Campari to be a little overwhelming.  It overtook the cocktail.  With two bitters (Campari and grapefruit juice) in the cocktail and very little sweetness with the cranberry juice, there was little to take the bitter edge off of the drink. 

There are a couple of different ways to remedy this; decrease the Campari, increase the cranberry juice, or add bar syrup.  Adding bar syrup is always my last resort as it has no flavor profile at all, so it adds no dimension to the drink.  Since Campari has quite a strong flavor and a little dab will do the trick, I opted for reducing the measurement by half.  The flavor of the Campari is still in the cocktail, but not as overpowering.  The other way to have gone was to keep the Campari the same and adjust the cranberry juice by 1/4 to 1/2 ounce for just a hint more sweetness.

Below you will find the original Sea Breezetini as found in the Sexy City Cocktails book.  Try it as is or with 1/4 oz Campari instead.  The idea behind finding what you like at home is having fun playing around with cocktail recipes and learning how to add and take away for your tasting pleasure.  Enjoy!

Sea Breezetini

1-1/2 oz Citrus Vodka

1/2 oz Campari

1/2 oz Red Grapefruit Juice

1/2 oz Cranberry Juice

1 Slice of Lime for Garnish

Place liquids in a cocktail shaker filled one third full of ice.  Shake for ten to fifteen seconds.  Strain into a well chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lime slice, wheel or twist. 

Below is the Sea Breeze recipe from my New England Highball article.  You can search for this article in the right hand column to find the rest of the New England Highball recipes including: Cape Cod, Bay Breeze, Madras, Sex on the Beach, and Woo Woo.

Sea Breeze

2 oz Smirnoff Vodka

1-1/2 oz Cranberry Juice

1-1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice

Lime Wedge for Garnish

Fill highball glass 2/3 full of ice. Add ingredients to glass in the order given. Garnish with the lime wedge. Add a stir stick or straw.