Fresh Ingredients

Cranberry Juice

Most cranberry juice sold in Britain is a cranberry juice drink: water, juice from concentrate and added sugar or sweetener, often about a quarter cranberry. That sweetened carton is what our Cosmopolitan, Cape Codder, Sea Breeze, Woo Woo and Sex on the Beach are built on. Pure pressed cranberry juice, with nothing added, is far sharper and unbalances them.

Quick Facts

ABV0% ABV

Legal categoryNon-alcoholic

OriginNorth America

Flavour Strengthmedium bold

SeasonAutumn / Winter (Available year-round frozen)

Our keeping timeCarton juice drink: as the label says once opened, refrigerated. Pressed at home: the same day. Whole berries: two to three weeks refrigerated.

Storage

Refrigerate a carton once opened and use it within the time on the label. We keep fresh cranberries in the fridge, and use juice pressed at home the same day.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About Cranberry Juice

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

TartBright acidityRed fruit

Tasting Notes

The carton drink: sweet-tart red fruit. Pure juice: intensely sour and drying, with very little sweetness of its own.

What the shop sells as cranberry juice is mostly a juice drink

Pure cranberry juice is too sharp to drink on its own, so most of what sits on British shelves is a juice drink: water, cranberry juice from concentrate, and sugar or a sweetener. One widely sold carton lists 27% cranberry juice. UK rules keep the plain name fruit juice for juice with no sugar added, so the word drink on the label is the signal.

Pressed juice with nothing added is sold too, usually in smaller bottles labelled 100% juice. It is a different ingredient, not a stronger version of the same one.

Our cranberry recipes assume the carton

The Cosmopolitan, the Cape Codder, the Sea Breeze, the Woo Woo and the Sex on the Beach were all built on the sweetened juice drink. In the Cosmopolitan, 30ml of it gives colour and some fruit while 15ml of lime does the balancing. Pour pure juice instead and the sugar the recipe counted on has gone: the drink comes out sour, thin and astringent.

Cranberry juice drink against pure cranberry juice

Label says

Cranberry juice drink: Juice drink; cranberry from concentrate, often about a quarter
Pure cranberry juice: 100% juice; nothing added

Sugar

Cranberry juice drink: Added sugar or sweetener
Pure cranberry juice: None added; very little of its own

Taste

Cranberry juice drink: Sweet-tart red fruit
Pure cranberry juice: Intensely sour and drying

Keeps once opened

Cranberry juice drink: As the label says, refrigerated
Pure cranberry juice: As the label says; the same day if pressed at home

Our recipes

Cranberry juice drink: Cosmopolitan, Cape Codder, Sea Breeze, Woo Woo, Sex on the Beach
Pure cranberry juice: None as written

	Cranberry juice drink	Pure cranberry juice
Label says	Juice drink; cranberry from concentrate, often about a quarter	100% juice; nothing added
Sugar	Added sugar or sweetener	None added; very little of its own
Taste	Sweet-tart red fruit	Intensely sour and drying
Keeps once opened	As the label says, refrigerated	As the label says; the same day if pressed at home
Our recipes	Cosmopolitan, Cape Codder, Sea Breeze, Woo Woo, Sex on the Beach	None as written

Read the back of the carton, not the front

Cranberry should be the first fruit on the ingredients list; blends padded with apple or grape taste of those instead. We keep it cold once opened, because the Cape Codder and the Sea Breeze pour 120ml of it straight over ice.

Pure juice needs cutting before it fits these drinks

Pure juice suits a drink built for it, where its sourness is the point and the sugar is measured in. To use it in a recipe written for the carton, dilute it with water and sweeten it to taste first. Pressed at home, it needs a blender and a fine strain rather than a citrus press, and it lasts only the day.

Using it

Using Cranberry Juice

Usage

30ml in the Cosmopolitan, 40ml in the Sex on the Beach, 90 to 120ml in the Woo Woo, the Cape Codder and the Sea Breeze. Use the sweetened carton drink, cold, with cranberry listed first; pure juice needs diluting and sweetening first.

Pro Tip

Chill the carton before service. In the Cape Codder and the Woo Woo it outweighs everything else in the glass, and warm juice melts the ice faster than the drink can take.

Top Tips

Read the ingredients. Cranberry listed first, with no apple or grape padding, is what our recipes assume.
Keep the carton in the fridge once opened and follow the label.
If you only have pure juice, dilute and sweeten it to taste before it goes into a recipe written for the carton.
In a Sex on the Beach, add the cranberry last and gently, so it sinks through the orange rather than mixing in.

Possible Substitutions

Pure pressed cranberry juice: much sharper; dilute and sweeten it before using it in these drinks
Pomegranate juice: darker and drier, for punches rather than the Cosmopolitan

Production Method

Juice drinks: cranberry juice from concentrate, diluted with water and sweetened with sugar or a sweetener. Pure juice: whole cranberries pressed, or puréed and strained, with nothing added.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

Should I use cranberry juice drink or pure cranberry juice in cocktails?

The juice drink, for every cranberry recipe we publish. The Cosmopolitan, the Cape Codder, the Sea Breeze, the Woo Woo and the Sex on the Beach were built on the sweetened carton and count on its sugar. Pure juice makes them sour, thin and harsh.

Why is most cranberry juice a juice drink?

Because pure cranberry juice is too sour and astringent to drink on its own, so producers dilute it and add sugar or sweetener. In the UK a product with added sugar cannot be sold as plain fruit juice, so it is labelled a juice drink. One widely sold carton lists 27% cranberry juice.

What does cranberry do in a Cosmopolitan?

It brings the pink and some fruit, while the 15ml of lime does the real balancing against the vodka and Cointreau. That is why the sweetened carton is right at 30ml: pure juice would add sourness the drink does not need and take away sugar it counts on.

How long does cranberry juice keep once opened?

A carton keeps for as long as its label says once opened, in the fridge. Juice pressed at home follows the fresh-juice rule and lasts only the day. Whole cranberries keep two to three weeks refrigerated, and longer frozen, which is how most are sold outside the autumn.

What is the difference between a Cape Codder and a Sea Breeze?

Grapefruit. The Cape Codder is vodka and a long pour of cranberry over ice, finished with lime. The Sea Breeze takes 40ml of vodka and the same cranberry, and adds 30ml of fresh grapefruit juice, which brings bitterness and makes the drink drier.

What other drinks use cranberry juice?

Among our recipes, the Woo Woo, with vodka and peach schnapps, and the Sex on the Beach, where the cranberry goes in last and sinks through the orange in red streaks. Both expect the sweetened carton, served cold.

Can I make cranberry juice at home?

Yes, but not in a citrus press. Blend fresh or thawed cranberries with a little water and sieve the pulp out. What comes out is very sour, so dilute and sweeten it before it goes near a recipe written for the carton, and drink it within the day, by our rule.

Make something

Made with Cranberry Juice

Featured In These Cocktails

Cape Codder Sex on the Beach Woo Woo Cosmopolitan Seabreeze

Often Used With

Updated 18 October 2026

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