Name: Salty Dog
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Vodka; 50 ml Pink grapefruit juice; 5 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 4 drop Grapefruit bitters; 4 drop Saline solution 4:1

Salty Dog
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Serve in a Fizz or Highball (8oz to 10oz)

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Ketel One Vodka
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Pink grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
4 drop	Bob's Grapefruit Bitters optional
4 drop	Saline solution 4:1 (20g sea salt to 80g water)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Fizz or Highball (8oz to 10oz) glass.
RIM glass with salt (moisten outside edge with grapefruit juice and dip into salt).
Prepare garnish of grapefruit wedge.
Prepare garnish of grapefruit slice wheel.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
Garnish with grapefruit slice wheel.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Whether enjoyed with breakfast or as an evening aperitivo, this is a superbly cleansing and refreshing cocktail.

Our previous recipe called for 50ml vodka, 15ml maraschino and 50ml grapefruit juice. I like maraschino, but, as many pointed out, it's not traditionally an ingredient in this vintage cocktail.

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Variant:

Served straight-up in a Coupe or Martini glass.
Without the salt, this cocktail becomes a Greyhound

History:

A cocktail from the late 1950s/early 1960s, its first appearance in a recipe book is in Ted Saucier's 1962 Bottom's Up: New and Revised Edition.

SALTY DOG
1 jigger Vodka
4 ozs. unsweetened grapefruit juice
Dash of salt
Ice
Place ingredients in highball glass. Stir and serve.
Ted Saucier, Bottom's Up - New and Revised Edition, 1962

SALTY DOG
Build in highball glass filled with ice cubes and rimmed in coarse granule salt.
1 ½ ounces Vodka
Fill with Grapefruit juice (usually unsweetened)
Brian F. Rea, Brian's Booze Guide, 1976

SALTY DOG
2 ozs. vodka
½ oz. unsalted grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt
Shake vodka, grapefruit juice and lemon juice well with ice. Strain into prechilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle drink with several generous dashes of salt.
Thomas Mario, Playboy's Host & Party Book, 1971

Salty Dog
1 shot Absolut® / Vodka
Fill with Grapefruit Juice
Salted Rim
Lime Wheel Garnish
Collins/Poco Glass
S.A. Greyhound
Mark Torre, The Bartenders' Bible, 1987

Nutrition:

One serving of Salty Dog contains 147 calories

Alcohol content:

1.1 standard drinks
14% alc./vol. (14° proof)
14.7 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 8 comments for Salty Dog.
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Andre Derailleur

2nd November 2024 at 09:37

Tried it with a bar spoon of maraschino: the right amount for me.

Yorey C

14th March 2024 at 06:35

haha this sucks lol

Joachim Vernon

16th July 2021 at 06:59

3 ice cubes
Sprinkle salt
1 Gin
2 Pink Grapefruit juice
Orange garnish

Jeremy Harrold

5th July 2021 at 16:14

I made mine with white grapefruit and found the maraschino to be a bit on the strong side. The drink was even a touch sweet rather than sour. Grapefruits are definitely less tart than when I was a kid!

John Hinojos

30th June 2021 at 00:01

Found the Maraschino a little overpowering when first sipped. We decided to added about 1/2 oz Cranberry. The cranberry softened the Maraschino. I would agree with the review, I think it may be better with Gin. The flavours in this drink overpower the vodka.

G. M. Genovese

20th January 2021 at 19:23

All I had was pre-bottled white grapefruit juice. I think I would've preferred the pink. The flavors did improve as they melded and diluted a bit. Don't bother with a Collins glass for this. I don't know what I was thinking...

Simon Difford

20th January 2021 at 20:25

Sadly, pink grapefruits are seasonal but fresh grapefruit, like all citrus fruit, is key.

Anonymous

13th July 2020 at 20:10

Without the salted rim, this is quite nice and very cherry-forward. With the salted rim however it gives a flavour closer to a blackcurrant rehydration sachet for after stomach illness.

Sally Morgan

26th June 2020 at 20:00

It’s nice, but if you want to cut the salt (Does this make it just a ‘dog’?) then cut the grapefruit to 2 shots and increase the maraschino to 1/2 a shot

Simon Difford

27th June 2020 at 17:20

Agreed. I've increased the maraschino and reduced the grapefruit. I've also cut the vodka a tad. Now better balanced and better fits a 10oz highball glass.