Nautical Drink Ideas

Nautical & Sailing Cocktail Ideas & Recipes

Nautical & Sailing Party Cocktail Ideas & Recipes

In addition to a number of nautical and ocean-themed drinks, you can create blue drinks to represent water, pairs of drinks in red & green to correspond to port & starboard, or use Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum or Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum. We have compiled some cocktail suggestions below including:

Pre-made Signature Drinks
Mixed Drinks For Bar Service
Martinis & Up Drinks
South Seas Shimmy Jell-O Shot
Virgin Wavebender Recipe

The type of cocktails you serve will depend on the type and size of your party.

For cocktail parties: We recommend a pre-mixed signature drink to:

Ensure everyone's drink tastes fabulous
Control costs
Reduce time mixing cocktails

For dinner parties: We recommend martinis to:

Relax the crowd quickly and facilitate conversation and laughter during dinner
Mix in batches and reduce the time mixing cocktails
Add style and panache

For bar service: We recommend keeping it simple by:

Offering drinks with 1 to 4 ingredients
Preparing mixes beforehand, for more complicated cocktails
Not serving frozen drinks

Regardless of the type of drink you serve, rename the drink for your guest of honor, in the spirit of your theme, your group of guests, or a current event.

Signature Drinks

When choosing a signature drink, to mix in large batches the day before the party, look for the following:

A drink that will appeal to most tastes
No carbonated mixers, look for juices

If your signature drink does call for a carbonated mixer, you should, ideally, pour it over the other ingredients in each individual glass and stir; otherwise, mix in a pitcher just prior to serving. Be sure to determine the proportion of carbonated mixer to the batch of other ingredients before the party.

In addition to the drinks below, some of the maritime classics listed in "Mixed Drinks" make tasty signature drinks, such as:

Sea Breeze
Salty Dog
Cape Cod

Remember, do not add ice to your batches of pre-mixed cocktails, instead, pour into a glass over ice. If you have room, put your signature drink mixture in the freezer, but don't forget to defrost before the party.

Parts vs Ounces

Parts are used for mixing batches, while ounces (oz) in parentheses indicate single-serving measurements.

Parts are relative measurements, meaning the actual volume depends on how much you want to make.

Example: 2 parts vodka, 1 part lemon juice can be mixed as 2 oz vodka, 1 oz lemon juice for a small batch or 2 cups vodka, 1 cup lemon juice for a larger batch.

Parts can be any unit of liquid measure, such as ounces, cups, liters, or gallons—just keep all ingredients in the same unit.
Ounces in parentheses (oz) show exactly how much to use per drink or serving.

Example: Vodka (2 oz), Lemon Juice (1 oz) means each drink gets 2 oz of vodka and 1 oz of lemon juice.

"By serving" means the ingredient is added per drink, not mixed into the batch.

Example: Club soda (By serving) means you add club soda to each drink individually, not in the mix.

Tidal Wave

1 part Gin
1 part Light rum
1 part Vodka
1 part Peach schnapps
4 parts Orange juice
4 parts Pineapple juice
1 dash Grenadine syrup

Mix all ingredients and adjust for taste.
Serve in a highball glass or double old-fashioned glass.
Garnish with a skewered orange or pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry.

Cabin Cooler

1 part Raspberry vodka
1 part Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum
2 parts Cranberry juice
1 part Ginger ale

Combine the vodka, rum, and cranberry juice the day before the party as your drink base.
To serve: mix 4 parts base with 1 part ginger ale in a double-old-fashioned glass or a pitcher before serving.
Stir and garnish with a lime slice.

Mixed Drinks For Bar Service

Sea Breeze

1-1/2 oz Vodka
3 oz Cranberry juice
1-1/2 oz Grapefruit juice

Combine ingredients in a highball or double-old-fashioned glass and stir.
Garnish with a lime slice.

Ocean Breeze
A variation of the Sea Breeze to surprise your guests.

1-1/2 oz Raspberry Vodka
1-1/2 oz Coconut Rum
3 oz Cranberry juice
1-1/2 oz Pineapple juice

Combine ingredients in a highball or double-old-fashioned glass and stir.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry on a toothpick.

Salty Dog
Vodka is recommended for a wider appeal.

1-1/2 oz Gin or vodka
4 oz Grapefruit juice

Combine the ingredients in highball or double-old-fashioned glass with a salted rim.
Garnish with a lime slice.

To Rim the Glass:
1. Moisten the rim of a your cocktail glass with a lime wedge.
2. Fill a saucer or bowl with sea salt or kosher salt.
3. Roll the outside rim of the glass in the salt to cover.
4. Shake off excess.

Variation:
Use Ruby Red grapefruit juice for a more original Salty Dog variation.

Cape Cod

1-1/2 oz Vodka
4 oz Cranberry juice

Combine ingredients in a highball or double-old-fashioned glass and stir.
Garnish with a lime wedge.

Variation:
Use watermelon vodka for an interesting twist.

Sex With The Captain

1-1/2 oz Captain Morgan's Spice Rum
1 oz Almond liqueur
1 oz Peach Schnapps
2 oz Cranberry juice
2 oz Orange juice

Combine ingredients with ice in a highball or double-old-fashioned glass.
Garnish with an orange slice and maraschino cherry on a toothpick.

Captain's Son

2 oz Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum
5 oz Ginger ale

Combine ingredients in a double old-fashioned glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

Lifesaver

1 oz Light rum
1 oz Midori melon liqueur
3 oz Pineapple juice

Combine ingredients with ice in a double-old-fashioned glass.

Painkiller

2 oz Dark rum
1 oz Coconut rum
3 oz Pineapple juice
1 oz Orange juice
Dash of Nutmeg

Combine rum, coconut rum, pineapple juice, and orange juice in a shaker half-filled with ice.
Shake and pour into a highball or double-old-fashioned glass.
Sprinkle a dash of nutmeg on top.

Martinis & Up Drinks

Maritime Martini

6 parts Gin
1 part Dry vermouth
1 Anchovy-stuffed olive

Combine gin & vermouth in an ice-filled martini pitcher and stir for 30 seconds.
Strain into a martini glass.&
Garnish with an anchovy-stuffed olive.

Coral Reef Blue Moon Martini

3 oz Vodka
3/4 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Blue Curacao
Dash Dry vermouth

Pour ingredients into an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake well.
Strain into a martini glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

Portside & Starboard Martinis
Melon Martinis...1 red (portside) served to the left, 1 green (starboard) served to the right.

Portside:

4 oz Citrus vodka
2 oz Watermelon schnapps

Pour ingredients into an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake well.
Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a watermelon wedge.

Starboard:

4 oz Citrus vodka
2 oz Midori melon liqueur

Pour ingredients into an ice-filled cocktail shaker and shake well.
Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a star fruit slice.

South Seas Shimmy Jell-O Shot

Passing trays of Jell-o shooters make a fun party event to keep the crowd entertained.

Ingredients:

8 oz boiling water
8 oz cold water
3 oz package of Berry Blue gelatin
3 oz package of lime gelatin
8 oz rum or vodka
4 oz blue curacao
4 oz Midori melon liqueur
40 gummy fish (optional)

To prepare:

Pour the gelatin in a heat-proof bowl and add the boiling water, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved.
Add the cold water, let cool completely.
Stir in the rum or vodka, blue curacao, and Midori until well combined. Note: The alcohol will evaporate, if you add it before the gelatin has cooled.
Pour the mixture into plastic 2 oz cups.
Chill until slightly set, about 15 minutes.
Use a skewer or chopstick to push a gummy fish into the center of each shooter (optional).
Chill until firm, 4-6 hours.

Variation: Pour liquid gelatin into an appropriate-sized pan to a depth of about 1 to 1-1/2 inch. Refrigerate overnight. Cut gelatin into one-inch square blocks.

Virgin Drink Recipe

Wavebender

1 oz Orange juice
1/2 oz Lemon juice
5 oz Ginger ale
Dash Grenadine syrup

Combine ingredients in a highball or double-old-fashioned glass with ice and stir.
Garnish with an orange slice or lemon twist.