Greyhound Drink

Made with tart grapefruit, the refreshing Greyhound Cocktail can pack a sweet-and-sour punch. Try this two-ingredient drink with fresh citrus juice and your choice of vodka or gin.

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Greyhound drink recipe

Grapefruit is a divisive cocktail ingredient. You either love it or you don’t.

But if you love it, then you’ll adore the Greyhound cocktail, a classic drink made with fresh grapefruit juice and your choice of vodka or gin.

Get to know this two-part classic cocktail and how to customize it to find your favorite way to drink it.

More grapefruit cocktails: Brown Derby • Grapefruit Mule • Citrus Spa Water

Why you’ll love this recipe

The Greyhound cocktail recipe is super simple and you’re going to love it, especially if you love anything grapefruit.

• Quick and easy, this recipe only calls for two ingredients.
• You can make it taste even better with fresh citrus juice.
• Customize it with your favorite gin or vodka, a salt rim or simple syrup.

The Greyhound is a delicious happy hour drink to enjoy all year round. It’s refreshing in the summer, but in the winter — when grapefruit is in season — it’s at its most flavorful.

What is a Greyhound cocktail?

The Greyhound cocktail is a simple, two-ingredient drink made with grapefruit juice and either vodka or gin.

The recipe dates back to the 1930 publication of The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock. Though often made with vodka today, the original recipe included gin.

It got its name in 1945, when Harper’s Magazine printed the recipe, supposedly because it was popular at the Post House restaurant at many Greyhound bus terminals, according to Masterclass.

Tools & glassware

To make this cocktail, you’ll need some kind of juicer if you are using fresh citrus.

You’ll also want a jigger for measuring out the ingredients.

For glassware, you can use either a rocks glass, which is a short glass, or a collins glass or highball glass, which are both tall glasses.

If you go with a taller glass, simply use a 1:2 ratio of booze to grapefruit juice.

favorite rocks glasses

striped old-fashioned glasses

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hobnail rocks glasses

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minimalist rocks glasses

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Ingredients

You only need two ingredients to make this easy cocktail. Here’s what to grab at the grocery store:

Grapefruits

Fresh pink grapefruit juice is the best in this cocktail, but store-bought is fine, too. But even if you buy grapefruit juice, make sure to pick up at least one grapefruit to cut up for garnishes.

If you choose to juice, it will be a little easier to juice grapefruit if it’s room temperature.

You can use any kind of juicer, but my favorite is my electric juicer. (If you use citrus a lot and have the cabinet space, you will NOT regret getting one of these, I promise! It makes juicing citrus so easy — you can use it for lemons, oranges and limes too. It does a great job of getting allllll the juice out of each fruit.)

You can also use a citrus squeezer (though it will take some hand strength!), a reamer or a hand juicer. Here are some of my favorite juicers:

favorite juicers

citrus press juicer

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glass citrus juicer

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electric juicer

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Vodka or gin

For a Greyhound, you can use either vodka or gin. Both are clear spirits, but their flavors differ significantly, which changes the profile of this two-ingredient cocktail.

Vodka gives this cocktail a stronger grapefruit flavor. Some say vodka is flavorless, so the alcohol really takes a backseat to the sweet and bitter citrus in this vodka-spiked drink. Most Greyhound cocktails are made with vodka these days.

Gin, on the other hand, has more floral, herbaceous notes that the sour grapefruit helps to highlight. Gin was the original choice for this cocktail, but it was later made with vodka to appeal to more palates.

The gin version is my preference because the resulting cocktail is a bit more balanced, but you can go either way here.

Greyhound Garnishes

You can garnish a Greyhound with a wedge of grapefruit, a grapefruit slice or a piece of grapefruit zest.

A sprig of rosemary also adds some color to the drink.

If you add margarita salt to the rim, it becomes a “Salty Dog” cocktail.

Greyhound variations

The great thing about two-ingredient drinks is they are easy to customize. Here are some of the best Greyhound variations to try:

• Salty Dog: Add a salt rim to your Greyhound to make it a Salty Dog.
• Dalmatian: This spiced version is made with black pepper syrup.
• Italian Greyhound: A splash of vermouth or amaro (such as Campari, Aperol or Punt e Mes) puts an Italian twist on this grapefruit drink, à la the Aperol Spritz.
• Sea Breeze: Add some cranberry juice to make a cross between the Cape Codder and the Greyhound.

Another great grapefruit cocktail is the Paloma, a tequila and grapefruit cocktail.

A rosemary greyhound is a popular twist, as rosemary and grapefruit are a delicious pairing. Add a little bit of rosemary syrup to the cocktail to bring in some herbal flavor.

How to make a Greyhound

A Greyhound is an incredibly easy cocktail to make. Because it’s only made with two ingredients, you can build the drink right in your glass and you don’t need a cocktail shaker.

Get out a rocks glass (a collins glass also works) and fill it with ice.

Add the vodka (or gin) and top with grapefruit juice. Give it a gentle stir.

Finish it off with a piece of grapefruit and a sprig of rosemary for garnishes.

Tips & tricks

For a great drink, use fresh citrus juice if at all possible. It will give your drink a sweeter, fresher flavor than store-bought juice.

Room-temperature citrus will produce juice much easier than refrigerated citrus.

FAQ

More two-ingredient cocktails

If you like easy 2-ingredient cocktails, try one of these delicious concoctions:

• The Tootsie Roll cocktail is made with root beer and coffee liqueur — tastes just like the candy!
• Make a Whiskey Ginger with your favorite bourbon and ginger ale.
• A Vodka Cranberry is another go-to of mine when I’m out at a bar!
• The Rum & Coke is a classic one made with rum and your favorite cola.