Madras Drink

Madras drink is a simple and delicious 3-ingredient drink made with vodka, cranberry juice, and orange juice. It’s slightly tart, sweet, and very refreshing!

History of the Madras drink

Madras drink is a variation of a drink Cape Codder which is just vodka and cranberry juice. By adding orange juice to this drink you’ll get madras drink.

Why is it called a Madras drink?

The Madras Cocktail is believed to be named for the plaid cloth design that originated in the Bay of Bengal seaport formerly named Madras. This large coastal city on India’s southeastern shore is now known as Chennai.

Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make this delicious drink:

• Vodka – is a great base for cocktails. It has a neutral taste and pairs well with other ingredients without overwhelming their flavor. You can buy cheap vodka for this drink, there are many other ingredients here that will mask all the flavor nuances of pricey vodka – you can use leftover vodka to make the cosmopolitan cocktail, bay breeze drink, or sea breeze cocktail.
• Cranberry juice – use sweetened cranberry juice or cranberry juice cocktail for this recipe (cranberry juice sweetened with other fruit juices or with sugar). Do not use unsweetened 100% cranberry juice which would be too tart for this recipe. If this is what you have, you can just add simple syrup to the drink. Check out all my cocktail recipes with cranberry juice to see how you can use up the leftovers.
• Orange juice – it can be store-bought or freshly squeezed.

Additionally, you will need ice cubes to chill your drink (I don’t like to add many because it just dilutes the drink).

Garnish: orange wedges or slices can be used as a garnish for this drink.

Proportions of the ingredients: this drink should have more cranberry juice than orange juice, otherwise it would be too sweet. Cranberry juice adds a nice tartness to the drink and balances sweet orange juice.

Glass for the Madras cocktail

Traditionally a highball glass (such as Collins glass) is used for this cocktail but you can really use any kind of glass to make it! Preferably, it should be a tall glass but any short glass like an old-fashioned glass will also do.

When using a short glass, scale down the amount of ingredients or your drink just won’t fit in the glass!

How to make this drink

STEP 1: Add a couple of ice cubes to a high glass. Measure out the vodka and add to the glass.

STEP 2: Measure out orange juice and add to the glass.

STEP 3: Measure out cranberry juice and add to the glass. Stir to combine.

Decorate the glass with an orange wedge or slice (optional).

Enjoy!

Scaling up the recipe: you can easily prepare this cocktail in a pitcher! Simply pour all the ingredients (scaling up each ingredient) into a pitcher filled with ice then stir to combine.

How strong is this cocktail?

This is not a strong cocktail. It contains a small amount of vodka and a lot of fruit juices so it’s rather weak than strong, but be careful – it’s so easy to drink that you can easily drink too much!

Similar recipes

• sea breeze cocktail: it’s made with vodka, cranberry juice, and grapefruit juice
• bay breeze drink: vodka, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice

More cranberry orange-flavored drinks:

• cranberry mimosa: it’s made with champagne, cranberry juice, and orange liqueur
• cranberry martini: delicious cranberry orange elegant cocktail
• cranberry orange sangria (Christmas sangria)
• cranberry orange mulled wine (a warm winter drink)
• cosmopolitan cocktail: it’s made with vodka, cranberry juice, lemon juice, and orange liqueur

See our collection of fruity drink recipes!