The Cosmopolitan Cocktail

The Cosmopolitan is a drink that has gained in popularity over the past few years mostly because of it's smooth, tart, yet sweet taste. In this article we're going to learn a little about the cocktail.

The original Cosmopolitan recipe was credited to a bartender at The Rainbow Room in New York City in the early 1980's, though some credit it to a woman named Cheryl Cook who is said to have invented the drink at a bar in Miami Beach. Absolut had just put its Citron Vodka on the market and the bartender at The Rainbow Room was trying to find a variation on a martini that was a little sweeter than the traditional martini. So he came up with "The Pink Martini" later renamed the Cosmopolitan. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz. Citron Vodka
1/2 oz. Cointreau
1/4 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1 oz. Cranberry Juice

Directions

1) Shake the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a martini glass.
2) Garnish with a slice of orange or orange peel.

Notes

Through the years, the Cosmopolitan has been through a few variations on form. For instance instead of the Cointreau, some bartenders fashion the cocktail with Triple Sec, some with Gran Marnier and some use Chambord which blends nicely with the cranberry juice to give the drink a twinge of raspberry.

Using Dubonet Rouge, instead of the Triple Sec, makes for an interesting drink, but it's hard to find in these parts. A citrus flavored vodka is recommended but many prefer to let the lime juice flavor the drink and go with a higher end vodka, like Stoli or Sky, that lends itself nicely to the mix of flavors.

The Cosmopolitan probably remains popular because it goes down easily and isn't as briny as a normal dry martini. Crisp, yet a bit tart when mixed properly, it's especially good when shaken with crushed ice and "bruised", or shaken, and poured with little chunks of ice floating in it, keeping it cold.

Cosmopolitans are typically served in martini glasses, which has led many people to mistakenly categorize the cocktail as a type of martini. At Glass With a Twist, we offer many unique martini glasses, all of which can be personalized with your own text or graphic. From stemless martini glasses to traditional martini glasses, we have the perfect glasses for Cosmopolitans. Whatever you do, don't refer to your Cosmopolitan as a martini in front of a bartender!