Cocktail recipe
Sex on the Beach
Juicy peach and citrus meet vodka in an unabashedly sunny, easy-drinking highball.
Ingredients
- 45 ml (1½ oz) vodka
- 20 ml (⅔ oz) peach schnapps
- 60 ml (2 oz) orange juice
- 60 ml (2 oz) cranberry juice
- Garnish: 1 orange half-wheel
Preparation
Build vodka and peach schnapps over ice in a tall glass. Add orange and cranberry juices, stir gently twice to combine, and tuck in the orange half-wheel.
Glassware
Highball glass
History
Ted Pizio's 1987 Fort Lauderdale story links the drink to a peach-schnapps sales promotion at Confetti's Bar and to Spring Break culture. However, both VinePair and Liquor.com report a drink called Sex on the Beach in the *American Bartenders School Guide to Drinks* dated 1982. We located independent secondary reports of this earlier publication, but did not inspect the original book or confirm whether its formula matches the later vodka, peach schnapps, orange and cranberry standard. Pizio is therefore better described as an influential popularizer or claimant, not a proven inventor. **Attribution confidence:** See sourced account and qualifications above.
Mixology View
The 1987 tale is a compelling chapter in the drink's commercial rise, but cannot safely be called its birth certificate. We serve the now-familiar cranberry version and label the 1982 publication a reported earlier appearance pending examination of the book.