Sex on the Beach Drink: Fruity Low Carb Summer Cocktail

The Sex on the Beach drink is a fruity, sweet cocktail that is perfect for, well, the beach. The rumors are that it was created in Florida in the late 1980s. The normal mixed drink version has vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, and orange juice. Also known as, lots of sugary ingredients which make them hard on a low carb diet.

My low carb version of the recipe is just as yummy of a refreshing cocktail but without those sugar. Tropical flavors of cranberry and peach are blended together. Splashed with a little club soda for sparkle makes this an easy, refreshing, keto diet friendly beach cocktail. And no, no cranberry juice, orange juice, or pineapple juice as is usually found in most beach type cocktails. Way too high of a carb count in each of those fruit juices. For example, a cup of orange juice has 26 grams of carbs.

For this low carb cocktail recipe you’ll need: vodka, cranberry vodka, peach vodka, Mio Energy Tropical Fusion water enhancer, club soda, lime slices, and ice. Sorry, no maraschino cherry. But you can add a little cocktail umbrella, strawberry, lime wedge, or orange slice for color without the sugar.  Please note, this is an alcoholic beverage so please drink responsibly. 

If you are in a hurry, feel free to Jump to the Recipe

How to make a Sex on the Beach low carb

Last summer I created a popular keto friendly recipe called Sex in the Driveway. It’s a gorgeous blue keto cocktail that is so good you just feel like you might be on a cruise or something. This year I wanted to make a keto version of the Sex on the Beach drink with a low carb count to go along with it. That proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be! Many of items on the ingredient list for the regular Sex on the Beach cocktail have a pretty high carb count. Like orange juice. Super sugary and delicious, but no.

However, after several not so tasty failures, I am happy to report that I prevailed in remaking this classic cocktail.

This tropical flavored cocktail doesn’t taste like a diet drink or a low carb drink at all. The flavor of the fruit is all there and the sparkle from the club soda gives it a nice little kick. From my personal experience, if you are or want to avoid becoming diabetic, watching your carb intake can help.  This is not medical advice, just what I’ve seen in my own low carb lifestyle.  Please work with your doctor on this. It also has a good amount of vodka so watch this if your alcohol tolerance is low. Back to the recipe. This keto drink has 0 carbs. This is because we’ll be using flavored vodka and 0 carb water enhancers to mimic the fruit juice. Smirnoff flavored vodka in my opinion is the best vodka for a keto diet as it has 0 carbohydrates. It’s my alcohol of choice for my low carb alcohol cocktails. If you decide to use a different brand in your vodka drinks, be sure and check to make sure that it is also sugar free.

The best water enhancer that I’ve found that has the right flavor is the Mio Energy Tropical Fusion. There isn’t really a substitute for this sugar free sweetener. You’ll have to decide how much is right for to make this refreshing drink perfect for your taste buds – it’s hard to measure an exact squirt of the stuff. I’d suggest adding it a few drops at a time until the flavor is exactly as you like it.

I use Mio Water Enhancer flavors quite a lot in my alcoholic drink recipes. They use artificial sweeteners like sucralose. If you can’t find them locally, it’s more cost effective add them to your online low carb shopping list. You can usually find them in a bundle of different flavors. This way you’ll have a variety of flavors on hand. The flavors for this low carb vodka cocktail recipe include the Tropical Fusion you need for the Sex on the Beach drink as well as Green Thunder, Wicked Blue Citrus, and Strawberry Pineapple.

Sex on the Beach Drink, Low Carb Alcoholic Cocktail Recipe

Sex on the Beach Drink, Low Carb Alcoholic Cocktail Recipe

This Sex on the Beach drink has 0 carbs with the classic taste of the sugar ladened version. It’s a fruity and refreshing sugar free version of the classic drink! It’s a simple drink which you can make quickly cuz who wants to be indoors when you can enjoy these on the patio.  

I’m not a bartender so I don’t use a cocktail shaker or a highball glass for this recipe. I found a wine glass or other glass that will fit lots of ice (it’s been over 100 degrees for weeks lately) will work.

For color, you can add a lime slice, a lemon slice, or a strawberry. This will take this delicious cocktail to the next level. Is it the perfect drink? Please let me know in the comments !

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Click on the image to see the recipe. From left to right (all low carb): Caribbean Rum Punch, Vanilla Old Fashioned, and my favorite, a Dirty Shirley.