Black Russian
50 ml Vodka, 20 ml Coffee liqueur
Sex on the Beach
Peach, orange and cranberry - a summer holiday in a tall glass.
Fruity
Easy
3 min
Photo: Sex On The Beach Cocktail @ Clare Hotel 20250123-124727 · All credits
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 6 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 240 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 240 ml line. Vodka
- 120 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 120 ml line. Peach schnapps
- 240 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 240 ml line. Orange juice
- 240 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 240 ml line. Cranberry juice
- 6 slices Orange slice (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Build everything over ice in a highball and stir.
- Garnish with half a slice of orange and hand it over.
Method
Pitcher (6 drinks)Pitcher (6 drinks) - about 840 ml of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Pour in the vodka and the peach schnapps.
- Add the orange juice and the cranberry juice.
- Stir gently for a few seconds - you want it cold, not frothy.
- Sit half a slice of orange on the rim, or a wheel inside if you prefer.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Sex on the Beach
Bars argue about this one more than almost any other drink. The version most of us have met - vodka, peach schnapps, orange and cranberry - is the American one that spread out of Florida in the 1980s; the older European build leaves out the cranberry and adds a little pineapple. Both are good, neither is wrong, and the one on this page is the one you are most likely to be handed.
Getting it right
It lives or dies on the peach schnapps, which is doing all the personality here: with too little you have a vodka and juice, and with too much you have a dessert. Measure it. Chill the juices first if you can - the drink is mostly juice, and juice at room temperature makes a lukewarm cocktail however much ice you add. Pour it over plenty of ice, stir it briefly, and give it the orange slice: it is a drink that likes being looked at.
Tasting notes
Soft peach and orange up front, cranberry tartness behind, and a long, clean, juicy finish. It is sweet, it is easy, and it is exactly the drink it promises to be.
If you want the same thing without the vodka, the cabin keeps an alcohol-free twin under the name Safe Sex on the Beach, and it is just as good on a hot afternoon.
More Vodka cocktails
Bloody Mary
50 ml Vodka, 120 ml Tomato juice, 15 ml Lemon juice, 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 2 dashes Tabasco, 1 pinch Celery salt, 1 pinch Black pepper, 1 Celery stick
Cosmopolitan
40 ml Vodka, 20 ml Triple sec, 30 ml Cranberry juice, 15 ml Lime juice, 1 Orange slice