A well made cosmopolitan balances bright citrus, a blush of cranberry, and a clean vodka backbone. Think of it as a cranberry margarita with vodka in place of tequila, sharpened by fresh lime juice and rounded out with a splash of orange liqueur.
The cosmopolitan delivers a sharp, refreshing sip that leans on fresh lime, orange liqueur, and a measured pour of cranberry. Its pink color comes from that cranberry splash, but the drink is far more than a vodka cranberry. Combining vodka, cranberry juice cocktail, lime juice, and triple sec in a shaker produces a balanced cocktail with brightness and just enough sweetness.
Choosing the right cranberry product matters. A bottle labeled “cranberry juice cocktail” is sweetened and works best here, according to the recipe. It balances the lime and orange liqueur while giving the drink its familiar pink color. Many brands, including Ocean Spray, sell this style. Bottles labeled “100% cranberry juice” are considerably tarter and have a concentrated, tannic quality. If that is all you have, use ¾ oz. pure unsweetened cranberry juice plus ½ tsp. simple syrup in place of the 1 oz. cranberry juice cocktail.
For the orange liqueur, Cointreau is a type of triple sec, so either label works. Cointreau has a bright, floral orange flavor that pairs especially well with cranberry and lime, though any good quality triple sec is an easy substitute. Dry curaçao will make a slightly less sweet drink with a hint of baking spice such as clove or nutmeg, perhaps a nice Thanksgiving twist on the standard cosmo. Grand Marnier has a deeper, warmer flavor and will make the drink slightly heavier. Either can be used as a 1:1 swap.
A good quality plain vodka works well, but citrus vodka is also traditional. Bartender Toby Cecchini’s influential version of the cosmopolitan, served at New York’s Odeon in the late 1980s, used Absolut Citron.
The cosmopolitan became an international phenomenon when HBO’s Sex and the City started airing in the late 1990s, but the drink had made several rounds before Carrie Bradshaw started ordering them. Versions circulated in the queer communities of Provincetown and San Francisco for years before Cecchini, of Brooklyn’s Long Island Bar, helped establish the modern cosmo at New York icon Odeon. As he told former BA editor Priya Krishna in an oral history of the drink, a colleague’s friends introduced him to a version made with well vodka, lime syrup, and grenadine. “It was gross, but it looked pretty,” Cecchini recalled. He reworked it with newly on the market Absolut Citron, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and cranberry juice. The drink caught on with the Odeon’s staff, celebrity clientele like Madonna and Sandra Bernhard, and the downtown Manhattan crowd.
A cosmopolitan is not simply a vodka cranberry. Both contain vodka and cranberry juice, but the similarities end there. A cosmopolitan adds fresh lime juice and orange liqueur, giving it a distinctive tart, citrusy flavor. It is also a shaken cocktail, which provides some dilution and slightly aerates the drink for balance. A vodka cranberry is a standard highball, typically built in the glass from which it is sipped.
To make one, combine 2 oz. vodka, 1 oz. cranberry juice cocktail, ¾ oz. fresh lime juice, and ¾ oz. triple sec in a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice, cover, and shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is very cold, about 20 seconds. Strain the cocktail through a Hawthorne strainer or a slotted spoon into a martini glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
This cosmopolitan recipe was first printed in the May 2016 issue and has been updated for style.
