Craft Cosmo
Owner/Mixologist Willa Van Nostrand, Little Bitte & World’s Fair Gallery, Providence
If you’re a Cosmopolitan fan, give this Craft Cosmo a whirl. You may never buy a bottle of triple sec again!...
here’s how! cocktails
The Cosmopolitan: The Ultimate New England Drink?
The Cape Cod (or Cape Codder, depending on where you’re from), with vodka and cranberry juice, may be New England’s signature drink, but it’s really the Cosmo that has held the public’s attention all these years later. Though wild cranberries have been growing in Southeastern Massachusetts and New England for some 12,000 years, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that the cultivation of farmed cranberries began, leaving plenty of time (roughly 130 years) for experimentation and the invention of the Cape Codder in the 1960s. Perhaps it’s the hardworking cranberry farmers, the Ocean Spray Cooperative and their Cape Codder marketing campaign we can thank for the Cosmo, a tall and frilly spin on the Cape Codder. It’s the Cosmopolitan that might just be my favorite recipe of the 20th century—a bold statement, I know!
Thanks to Toby Cecchini, the New York City–based bartender mixing drinks at the Odeon in Manhattan in 1988, and his invention of the Cosmo, fresh-pressed citrus juice began to make its way back behind the bar and into the cocktail canon in the 1980s. Most bar programs at that time had swapped fresh lemon and lime for Rose’s lime cordial and prepackaged sour mix and it was the Cosmo (Citron vodka, fresh lime juice, Cointreau, cranberry juice) that helped bring fresh citrus juice back into the spotlight. Cranberry juice also plays a critical role here in bringing that piquant tartness and distinctive pink hue to the drink.
Whatever the case, I am thankful for this pink glistening drink. My favorite recipe, the Craft Cosmo, ditches the Cointreau (or more frequently triple sec, the cheaper substitute used by many) for honey syrup and swaps in natural tart, unsweetened cranberry juice for the sweetened stuff for a truly balanced, tart and fruity drink. Choose between a classic lemon twist or a lime wheel to garnish, or skip the garnish entirely and simply toast how easily this pink drink slips down the gullet. Is this Cosmo more tart than you remember? Add another dash of honey syrup for smooth sailing.
Recipe