Salty Dog
Gin and grapefruit juice over ice with a salted rim. The Greyhound with salt — and with gin, the original 1930s spirit, which grapefruit prefers.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Rub a grapefruit wedge round the rim of a highball glass and dip it in kosher salt.
Fill the glass with ice and add the gin.
Top with fresh grapefruit juice and stir once.
Garnish with a grapefruit wedge.
A thoughtful finish
- Fresh grapefruit juice; the drink is nothing else. White grapefruit is drier and more bitter and suits gin; pink is sweeter.
- The salt is the point: it tames the grapefruit's bitterness and makes the fruit taste sweeter without sugar.
- A dash of grapefruit bitters or a bar-spoon of elderflower liqueur are the two worthwhile embellishments.
Common mistakes
- Carton juice, sweet and flat.
- No salt — then it is a Greyhound, which is also fine.
- Too much gin. Two to four is the ratio; it is a long drink.
A few good questions.
What is the difference between a Salty Dog and a Greyhound?
The salt rim. Otherwise they are the same drink.
Gin or vodka?
Gin is the original and the more interesting; vodka is the common modern version. The site lists both.
Can I add soda?
A splash makes it longer and lighter and is a good summer version.
Why salt with grapefruit?
Salt suppresses bitterness on the palate and makes the fruit read as sweeter and fuller. It is the same reason people salt a grapefruit half at breakfast.
Variations
- Greyhound — The same drink without the salt rim.
- Salty Dog (vodka) — With vodka.
- Paloma — Tequila and grapefruit soda with a salt rim.
- Sea Breeze — Vodka, cranberry and grapefruit.
Where it comes from
c. 1950s · United States
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
The Greyhound — gin or vodka with grapefruit — dates to Harry Craddock’s 1930 Grapefruit Cocktail, and the Salty Dog is the same drink with a salt rim, a 1950s or 1960s addition whose inventor is unknown; salt and grapefruit were a known pairing at the breakfast table long before. Gin was the original spirit and vodka took over with the vodka boom; this page is the gin version, which has more to say against the fruit. The name may be from the sailor’s slang or the folk song; nobody has traced it.
Sources
- Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930 (book)
- Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology, 2003 (book)
- Difford's Guide, Salty Dog, 2015 (reference)
Strength. About 1.47 US standard drinks at an estimated 12.8% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
A keeper?
Save this drink for your next cocktail hour.
Saved in this browser.The next great drink
might already be on your shelf.
Choose your bottles and mixers. Discover what you can make.
Your next sip.
More Gin drinks ↗
20th Century
Gin, Lillet, white crème de cacao and lemon. A 1937 drink named for a luxury train, and the proof that chocolate and…
Aviation
Gin, maraschino, lemon and a whisper of violet — a pre-Prohibition sour that spent fifty years incomplete because one ingredient vanished.
Bees Knees
Gin, lemon and honey. A Prohibition-era sour that was invented to hide bad gin and turns out to be the best thing…