By Catherine Bailey 7/25/2011 2:41 PM
What is the Cosmopolitan and why is it so extraordinary?
40 ml Vodka Citron
15 ml Cointreau
15 ml Fresh lime juice
30 ml Cranberry juice
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| The Cosmopolitan |
Add all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and double strain into large cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wheel. The drink should be a frothy bright pink color, serve in a martini cocktail glass, According to IBA (the International Bartenders Association)
The ever so famous Cosmopolitan otherwise known as Cosmo with its’ alluring blush pink color and oh-so-berry taste with a hint of zesty citrus has become a trend setting icon at the turn of the century. During the course of the hit series, the “Sex in the City” fashionista foursome lead us through the life and lifestyles of a certain Manhattan-based community, one which most women long to be part of, we witnessed the countless nights out with Cosmo taking the lead.
Before “Sex in the City” first aired on June 6th 1998, we could not predict the aftermath of this anticipated new TV series, or the Cosmo cocktail. As soon as it did, however, the world was introduced to glamorous New York women living life to the fullest and reminiscing about it while drinking… Cosmo.
It wasn’t until the end of the second season of this HBO crowd-pleaser, though, that we were first introduced to the famous cocktail. It humbly surfaces when Samantha, not Carrie, first orders a Cosmopolitan at a bar. Although, the drink subsequently becomes Carrie’s favorite and continues to be until the last scene of the movie, all the ladies commonly order it throughout the series.
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| Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw with Cosmo |
“(…) a Cheeseburger, please, a large fries and a Cosmopolitan" says Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, on Sex in the City episode. Sometimes while being out in the country we long to be in the city instead, after all the city bars serve Cosmo.
When the Sex in the City saga began, dozens of versions of this divine cocktail were ubiquitous nationwide. Manhattan Rainbow Room’s bartender Dale DeGroff, now a world class master mixologist, had his fair share in popularizing this cocktail and around 1996, permanently installing it on the NYC night scene. Soon many stars, including Madonna, were seen drinking this cocktail across NY, and so the Cosmo mania began.
In fact, sometime during the early 1990’s, when the Grammys were held in NYC and the after party was in the Rainbow Room itself, the queen of pop along with her companions, was photographed sipping the chic Cosmo. Consequently, the following day The New Yorker magazine disclosed the news. “Madonna drinks Cosmopolitans at the Grammy after party, Rainbow Room, New York”, the caption under the photo stated. Dale refined the Cosmopolitan using citrus vodka, cointreau, fresh lime juice and cranberry juice topped with a flamed orange zest, thus, the new Cosmo was born.
Although wrongly credited by many historians’ who trace the roots of the drink to New York, Toby Cecchini recaps yet again “I didn’t invent the Cosmopolitan,” he points out, just as he did in his 2003 book Cosmopolitan: A Bartender’s Life.
“There was a drink called the Cosmopolitan before,” Mr. Cecchini explained. “I basically made the drink that is now known as the Cosmopolitan.” Upon his first experience with Cosmo in 1987, the classy drink had been so degraded that it was something more of a bad kamikaze gone pink instead of a fine sour cocktail.
“I just turned it into a sour”, he recalls. He used Absolut Citron Vodka, because it was a new product which just came out at the time plus the well known Cointreau triple sec orange liqueur, adding fresh lime juice, and just a drop cranberry juice for color, instead of the grenadine which had been used by others along the way.
Although a New York party enthusiasts’ drink of choice, the Cosmopolitan is claimed to be the discovery of South Beach bartender named Cheryl Cook, who worked the Miami bars for about 15 years. It is thought by some, that she is a mythical character. Others presume that it is to her that the cocktail owes its present name. In effort to rebut that presumption, an interview with Cheryl surfaced on the internet, or so sources state.
Upon doing research, we came across an online link, which further pointed in the direction of the 1997 book New Classic Cocktails by Gary Regan and M. Haiden Regan. It is noted, that they received information about Cheryl creating the Cosmo and that it came from good sources, but they were not able to locate her.
The Webtender forum features an archived transcript of what Cheryl wrote in response to the seemingly endless quest for finding the creator of the Cosmopolitan cocktail. Aside from introducing herself and allowing the reader to know more about her, ‘The Martini Queen of South Beach’ informs that upon being asked to create a drink introducing the new (at the time) Absolut Citron Vodka, she came up with what is now internationally known as the Cosmo.
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| Photo courtesy of HBO |
“What overwhelmed me was the number of people who ordered Martinis just to be seen with a Martini glass in their hand. It was on this realization that gave me the idea to create a drink that everyone could palate and was visually stunning in that classic glass. This is what the Cosmo was based on.”
The ex-Head Bartender of The Strand, states that her objective was also “to create a visually stunning cocktail in a beautiful glass”. Further, Cheryl recalls she used “Absolut Citron, a splash of triple sec, a drop of roses lime and just enough cranberry to make it oh so pretty in pink”. Even though, not only pretty, but also tasty her cocktail turned out to be, Cheryl modestly acknowledges that she was “Not so much trying to reinvent the wheel, just bringing it up to speed.”
Around the same time, an Ohio born bartender had just migrated from Cincinnati to Frisco. He’d worked behind the bar, in cutting-edge bars in Cleveland and Cincinnati where, too, they made Cosmos. John Caine is said to have introduced the Cosmo to the West coast of the States. Maybe that’s how the West was won by John, owner of several successful San Francisco bars, who brought with him the know-how of preparing the popular East coast cocktail and did not hesitate to do so.
“The Cosmo is the granddaughter of an evolution of drinks that began with vodka and gin in the ’50s and ’60s. You remember the gimlet from the ’30s and ’40s?” asks John in an interview with Paul Kilduff for East Bay’s The Monthly magazine.
The word gimlet, as of 1928, refers to a cocktail made with gin or vodka, sweetened lime juice, and sometimes soda water, presumably because of its "penetrating" effects on the drinker. The drink, as mentioned by John, goes back some 100 years. The decades that followed brought about alterations to the drink, for example adding some orange liquor makes it the Kamikaze. The original Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice had hit the shelves in the early 1930s, yet, it wasn’t until the early 70’s that it had become popular to mix flavors. So, lastly, cranberry juice once added to the combination gives us the now cardinal Cosmopolitan cocktail.
Another source claims that Neal Murray, now maitre d' at Marche restaurant in Menlo Park, first served this cocktail back in 1975 when he was a college kid at the University of Minnesota. As a bartending rookie at ‘Cork & Cleaver’ steakhouse located in Minneapolis, the young Neal tried out his freshly acquired skills accompanied by his own imagination splashing in some cranberry juice into a Kamikaze and offering it to a customer to taste. The outcome "How cosmopolitan!" was supposedly the response of the customer; hence, the Cosmopolitan was named…perhaps?
Alternatively, many drink historians and bartenders agree that the gay community in Provincetown, Massachusetts, should be credited with the accomplishment, possibly because of the use of cranberries. The original Ocean Spray agricultural cooperative was founded in Massachusetts, and the company brought their Cranberry Juice Cocktail to market in 1976. The juice was mixed with vodka and sold in coastal bars as the Cape Codder.
Ocean Spray became the first producer of cranberry juice drinks with the introduction of Cranberry Juice Cocktail. (A.D. Makepeace Company, one of the original founders of Ocean Spray, has been in continual operation since the late 19th century and is currently the world's largest grower of cranberries.)
Does it really matter to us, the consumers, who created the first Cosmopolitan? Surely, it makes a difference to the creator himself, whoever in truth that may be. The most probable version is that several people just combined the ingredients independent of each other and have, in their own societies, made a claim for fame. Because nowadays news spreads quickly, all the tales of whom and how the Cosmo came to be have collided, making it somewhat difficult to establish one single person who is responsible for this creation.
Written proof of what could be identified as vodka first appeared in Poland, Europe in the 11th century. As for cranberry juice, the North part of this country is full of bogs, which are areas of soft, marshy ground, usually near wetlands, where cranberries love to grow. Furthermore, it is widely presumed that lemons first grew in India, northern Burma, and China however entered Europe no later than the 1st century AD, however, lemon cultivation in Europe began in the middle of the 15th century, in Genoa, Italy. As for the orange liqueur, or triple sec, the Cointreau Distillery was set up in 1849 by confectioner Adolphe Cointreau, in Angers, France.
For all we know, it might have even been a country in Europe where the Cosmo first appeared, considering availability of ingredients. Maybe a house wife in the South of France made the pink drink at a garden party on a delightful Sunday afternoon ages before we ever heard of Manolo Blahniks, before Ocean Spray produced the first juice, and before South Beach, Miami, Florida was a hot spot. Just as well, it might have been an English duchess and her ladies-in-waiting who have first sipped the cocktail when it wasn’t yet famous.
Nonetheless, we are grateful to all the contributors of this fantastic cocktail icon, for it cannot be denied that popular culture has been significantly influenced by its presence. There are pendants with a “cosmo” glass, handbags, even shoes and clothing with embroidered Cosmos. In a direct attempt to patch in the gap between drinks and fashion, the Demeter Fragrance Library has created a fragrance intended to smell like the Cosmopolitan cocktail.
Now Cosmopolitan cocktails are known worldwide from Tokyo to Moscow to Paris and back to New York. Depending on the bar or bartender as well as country, city and region the standard cocktail ingredients vary, both in proportion and ingredients, sometimes also garnish.
Now Cosmopolitan cocktails are known worldwide from Tokyo to Moscow to Paris and back to New York. Depending on the bar or bartender as well as country, city and region the standard cocktail ingredients vary, both in proportion and ingredients, sometimes also garnish.
In effect of searching the internet, you will find lots of different recipes for the Cosmopolitan cocktail.
This is probably the most popular, but be sure to check out the following posts as well for an imposing array of recipes.
Cosmopolitan
• 1½ shots citrus vodka
• ½ shot Cointreau
• ¾ shot cranberry juice
• ½ shot lime juice
• 2 dashes orange bitters
Shake all ingredients well with ice and fine strain in to a cocktail glass. Top off with a flamed orange zest.
Take a look at this clip on how make the perfect orange zest as a final touch to the perfect Cosmo:
Although, the Cosmopolitan cocktail is at times mistakenly classified as a variation of Martini, because it usually comes in a martini glass, made correctly it is very much
