Sea Monster Cocktail | A Spiced Rum Drink with 4-Ingredients

The Sea Monster was one of the first cocktails I ever made. It was in 2014 and my husband and I had just relocated to Reno for his job. I had recently started getting into making cocktails and spent a lot of extra time scrolling Pinterest and pinning any and every cocktail recipe I found. (Speaking of Pinterest, here’s a shameless plug for mine.)

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The first time I ever had a Sea Monster cocktail was with my cocktail/plant bestie (you might remember me talking about her in this post). We frequently got together to make cocktails and I’m pretty sure this was one of the first ones we tried. In fact, here are some Instagram photos from back in the day:

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Aren’t those glasses gorgeous? They belong to my friend and they’re my favorite ever. I have glass envy. Is that a thing?

Once I accidentally called this drink a “Sea Monkey” and we’ve joked about it ever since. In fact, I still think of it as a Sea Monkey and have to remind myself that that’s not the real name of this drink. Or is it?… No, no it’s definitely a Sea Monster. But I do love Sea Monkies. I’ve bought a couple kits in my lifetime and wouldn’t mind having them again. I mean, teeny tiny freeze-dried shrimpies that come to life by adding water and require little-to-no care? Sign me up.

We made this drink several times together back then and on the rare occasion that I have grapefruit juice around, I’ll make one. It’s a fun nod back to my early cocktail-making days.

While we’re on the subject of grenadine, I’ll give a shout out to the one seen in the pictures. In the past, I had Rose’s grenadine. It’s alright if it’s what you can find, but I’m officially here for the Barsmith grenadine. Unlike Rose’s, it’s not too sweet and it actually tastes like pomegranate. It’s also colored with vegetable juice (yay for no red dye!), non-GMO, and has no high fructose corn syrup. If you ain’t about to make your own, this stuff is a superb option.

I would love to give credit to the original creator of the Sea Monster cocktail, but I can’t. I went back to the Pin that I saved all those years ago and that person said they got it from the “cute lil lady over at Sweet Toothed” but alas, Sweet Toothed.com no longer exists.

If you’re a fan of a Dark & Stormy, then you’ll probably love this Sea Monster cocktail. The base is spiced rum (Kraken is my favorite), then ginger beer, grapefruit juice, and grenadine. The ginger brings a spicy kick and the grapefruit and grenadine combo make it fruity without being too sweet.

If you’ve been around Girl & Tonic for a while, you know I always tell everyone to use fresh citrus juice. Bottled lemon juice and lime juice taste worlds different than their fresh counterparts. But I make an exception for grapefruit juice. Fresh is still definitely better, but I really don’t mind going pre-squeezed. I like buying these little grapefruit juice cans because I never go through a giganto bottle before it goes bad.

As always, let me know if you try this cocktail by tagging me on Instagram @girlandtonic_ and using the hashtag #girlandtonic.

Cheers to another easy 4-ingredient cocktail!

Ingredients for a Sea Monster Cocktail

• 1 1/2 oz spiced rum
• 2 oz grapefruit
• 2+ oz ginger beer
• 1/4 – 1/2 oz grenadine

How to Make a Sea Monster Cocktail

Pour the rum, grapefruit juice, and grenadine into a lowball glass filled with ice. Top off with the ginger beer. Stir to incorporate.