Drink In History - The Cape Codder

Cape Codder

Many monikers, same steadfast sipper

By Lanee Lee

Here’s the original Cape Codder recipe to riff or not to riff.

Cape Codder

INGREDIENTS

2 oz. vodka 3 oz. cranberry juice Lime wedge (for garnish)

PREPARATION

In a Highball glass with ice, add vodka and cranberry juice. Stir well, garnish. Squeeze the juice from the lime wedge into the drink or add soda or ginger ale to spritz it up. L ong before a marketing mastermind propelled the Cosmo to iconic status using the 1990s series Sex in the City, a marketing strategy thought up by the Massachusetts-based cranberry juice company, Ocean Spray, was used to encourage cranberry juice sales. The Cape Codder cocktail—a mix of cranberry juice, vodka, and a splash of lime juice on the rocks in a Highball—was invented, proving that cranberries are a year-round fruit, and cranberry juice must be a behind the bar staple.

In 1945, the humble drink first appeared in print as the Red Devil cocktail in Ocean Spray’s newsletter: “With cranberry juice, he adds vodka, a dash of fresh lime and comes up with a Red Devil cocktail.” The first moniker had a bit more publicity pizzazz, but perhaps it didn’t play well during this time. After World War II, people associated anything ‘red’ with promoting communism, i.e., McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare.

By the 1950s, the drink was mainstream—although, curiously, everyone had their own name for it. Of course, New Englanders proudly called it the Cape Codder or the Cape Cod. In Miami and Palm Beach, it was known as the Bog-Fog. And even Trader Vic’s, the Polynesian-themed restaurant chain that shuttered its last location in 2017 in Beverly Hills after 62 years, renamed the cranberry cocktail the Rangoon Ruby when it first appeared on their menus in 1957.

Spurred by Ocean Spray’s full-page ads in major publications, the cocktail continued to be a drink of choice at cocktail parties and bars across the country. For example, an ad in The New Yorker in 1965 read, “America’s newest cocktail creation. The Cape Codder. Two ruby jiggers Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice. One jigger vodka.”

And when a cocktail reaches stardom, riffs abound.

By simply adding another type of juice, the variations are endless. The Sea Breeze swirls in grapefruit juice, Madras includes a splash of orange juice, and Bay Breeze calls for pineapple juice. Add a splash of soda and you have The Rose Kennedy, named after John F. Kennedy’s mom. If you’re in the northeastern United States, order the V.S.S. (it stands for vodka, soda, splash of cranberry) local vernacular for the Rose Kennedy cocktail. Of course, the Cosmopolitan is the most legendary (and most recent as a 1980s creation) riff with triple sec, added lime juice, and served in Martini glass.

Whatever version or name you like best, those ruby-red cranberry and vodka drinks are still as prevalent as they were during Ocean Spray’s marketing campaign marvel.