Sex and the City’s #@%^ing Cosmopolitans

That damn movie has everybody asking for cosmopolitans. I love turning people into cocktail enthusiasts, but man, I might not be able to take this much longer. Not only that, but when a proper cosmo is presented before these Sarah Jessica Parker wanna-bes, they question the validity of the drink because it doesn’t look like the radioactive pink drinks on HBO. Ok, if we’re going to do cosmos everyone, let’s do this right…

In my continuing search for a rationalization of the American obsession with the odorless and tasteless charlatan that is vodka, one inevitably finds themselves staring at a cosmopolitan. Every cocktail has its historical origins. Some are lost to history; others aren’t worth writing about. But, some are landmark evolutions in the history of a greater cocktail anthology. And while, I, like other vodka abolitionists, yearn for a world in which people understand the delicate flavors of more complex spirits; the cosmopolitan is often a gateway cocktail for people beginning the journey towards an appreciation of the fine mixed drink. All of this, and that damn movie that has me making all kinds of cosmos made me think we should have something on here about the HBO cocktail.

My search carried me to a logical starting point, the Cosmopolitan. This is not to say the Cosmo is the first vodka cocktail, but it does seem to stand as the iconic drink that has lead to the “martini craze”. When attempting to ascertain the historical context of a cocktail recipe, I sometimes find it helpful to first understand the name of the aforementioned cocktail.

Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community. This is contrasted with communitarian theories, in particular the ideologies of patriotism and nationalism. Cosmopolitanism may or may not entail some sort of world government or it may simply refer to more inclusive moral, economic, and/or political relationships between nations or individuals of different nations. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a cosmopolite.

Taken in this context, one might assume that the cosmopolitan was created in an attempt to bring about a unification of the human race into a more tightly knit community. One might expect me to make some witty jab at the logical facile of assumptions, but there might be some level of truth in the use of the name Cosmopolitan to describe this alcoholic concoction. Nevertheless, before we begin exploring any degrees of social significance, we must first explore the history of the cocktail and its point of origin.

My research leads me to at least 4 different bartenders that could have come up with the Cosmo. But here is what we know for sure; the Cosmo began showing up in bars sometime between the early and mid 1980’s, it is a citrus vodka based drink, and some people would have us believe is the cross-marking child of Ocean Spray Cranberry and Absolute Citron. This theory loses steam however because Citron was launched in 1988 and the first example of the modern Cosmo showed up around ’87. Despite this uncertainty, here’s a summation of the tattered history.

The first credible creator we should look at is John Caine, a San Francisco bar owner. It is believed that Caine was the leader in the upsurge of the Cosmo in the east coast market, but he is quick to point out that he was making the cocktail in Cleveland and Cincinnati in the late 80’s. While Caine might have helped to popularized the drink he is not its creator.

Next, we have Cheryl Cook a bartender from South beach. Cook is the bartender that is given most of the credit for the creation of the cocktail in question. She created the drink in ’85 or ’86. The creation of the original Cosmo was a response to a pretentious public’s desire to drink from a cocktail glass even if they couldn’t handle a real cocktail. However Cook isn’t the creator of the modern Cosmo, her stone washed jeans era creation called for citrus vodka, triple sec, Rose’s lime and cranberry.

To find the origins of the modern drink we know and love as the Cosmo, we must next look to New York barman Toby Cecchini. Cecchini was working at The Odeon in ’87/’88 when he perfected the drink from a poorly described version of the Cook concoction. I can picture it now, a guest sits down and asks Cecchini if he can make a Cosmopolitan, he never have hearing of the drink before responses with “no but if you can describe it to me we can work it out”. Cecchini made his pink cocktail charlatan with Cointreau and fresh lime juice. This is almost the end of the story but there is one more player we need to meet.

Great New York Bartender, writer and cocktail celebrity Dale DeGroff is the last piece of the Cosmo puzzle. Many people credit DeGroff with the invention of the Cosmo, but he flatly denies the claim in his book The Craft Of The Cocktail, DeGroff however acknowledges his role in Cosmopolitan history. As he did with many of the now popular classic cocktails DeGroff widely publicized the Cosmo; righting about it, reviewing the drink on TV and in print. The one addition that Degroff did make was the flamed orange peel garnish, something I think the drink simply cannot go without.

There you have, short and to the point, just like the Cosmo. A Cosmo is a citrus vodka based cocktail; consisting of lime, triple sec, and cranberry in one form or another. I don’t feel that lovers of vodka should look to the Cosmo as a justification of the use of the spirit in cocktail construction based of the fact that citrus vodka is simply not the odorless and tasteless spirit that vodka lovers claim to cherish. We only use fresh juices at the bar, so you will never find a bottle of rose’s lime anywhere nearby, but if you want sickly sweet cocktail, I would be more than happy to pour you a glass of simple syrup instead. As far as orange liqueurs goes we like to use different brands depending on the drink; butl we prefer Cointreau for our Cosmos. Cranberry is pretty strait forward; use the best you can find, and if you are lucky enough to have access to fresh berries and a press juicer, make your own.

You can try each version, but none is finer than DeGroff’s.

The Cook Cosmo

2oz of Citrus Vodka
.5oz of Triple Sec
1 bar spoon of Rose’s Lime
1 bar spoon of Cranberry juice

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

While we do not make this cocktail at the bar it is note worthy if only for historical significance.

Cecchini’s Cosmo

2oz of Citrus Vodka
.5oz of Cointreau
1 bar spoon of Fresh Lime
1 Bar spoon of Cranberry

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

This cocktail if far from a classic but it’s getting closer

The Dale DeGroff Cosmo

1.5oz Citrus Vodka
.5oz of Cointreau
1 bar spoon of Fresh lime
1oz of Cranberry juice

Shake hard and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.

While this might be the internationally recognized version of the drink I think that the portions are a little off and some improvements could be made. With that in mind, try this alternative.

The Rock and The Stars

2oz of Homemade Lemon-Infused Plymouth Gin
.5oz of Marie Brizard Orange Curacao
.5oz of Fresh Lime
Splash of Cranberry

Shake hard and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.

This might be the most classically inspired version of the cocktail yet. The gin brings in some good botanical notes and still carries the citrus flavor. I use the Marie Brizard to stay in that same classic vein.

The last twist on the Cosmo might be my favorite; we came up with it after tasting Treaty Oak Rum. The Treaty Oak is a large Oak tree in Austin, Texas. The Treaty Oak is the last member of a grove of trees that served as a meeting place for American Indians. The tree is estimated to be 500 years old. It gets its name because it was the site of a number of historic Texas treaties. This ancient tree has faced its own trials as well; namely, it was poisoned in 1989. A man proposed to his girlfriend under the tree, after they were married, she left him for another man. Out of rage the jaded spouse poisoned the tree in an attempt to curse his x-wife. The Treaty Oak has come to stand for strength and longevity, a high standard for any sprit to live up to. Treaty Oak rum is the only spirit in Texas that makes it product from scratch. They bring in molasses from the valley and use a sour mash processes to produce the wash which is then distilled in a custom handmade reflux column still. The rum is light and drinkable. It doesn’t have the heavier flavor tones you find in most rums which makes this rum a perfect substitute for vodka yet still it still brings flavors you can get out of vodka.

Cosmopolitan Roots

1.5oz Treaty Oak Rum
.5oz Cointreau
.5oz Lemon Juice
.5oz Lime Juice
Splash of Cranberry Juice

Shake very very hard and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.

I cut back on the rum and added lemon juice to make up for the fact that I was having trouble infusing a lemon flavor in it the rum without destroying the delicate taste of the spirit. That, and I only had crappy lemons.

As much as we in the cocktail community might not like to admit it, there is reason why vodka is the #1 selling spirit the world over. People loving being able to mix up a punch or juice that is tasty and able to take spirit that will get them a decent buzz. The ironic thing about the cosmopolitan as an example of a good vodka drink is the fact that the cocktail only works with a citrus vodka, which runs opposite of the hyper distilled odorless and tasteless goal of many vodka producers. The one big benefited of the Cosmo is that it re-popularized the use of the cocktail glass, the downside is that this re-popularization came with no historical context, so many people began calling all up drink served in a cocktail glass a martini when this is far from the truth. A practice that has be reinforced by the growing number of “martini bars” that have sprung up around the country. The conclusion we can make from all of this is that the Cosmo deserves a place in modern cocktail history, and that it is drink that can be vastly improved upon by bringing it more into line with what we know to be classily tried and truth methods. However with all this said, if I’m going to drink out of a cocktail glass give me a Manhattan any day. But, then again, I don’t plan on seeing any overplayed HBO series, turned movies lately. Sorry Sex in the City fans.