The legendary Cosmopolitan is a simple cocktail with a big history. It reached its height of popularity in the 1990s, when the HBO show “Sex and the City” was at its peak. The pink-hued, Martini-style drink was a favorite of the characters on the show. It made its debut during the second season and became a series regular after that.
For a good decade, the Cosmopolitan may have been the most popular cocktail in America, and bartenders couldn’t work a shift without making dozens of them for thirsty patrons. Naturally, its ubiquity spurred countless riffs, from the White Cosmo to versions featuring gin. While the drink isn’t as popular today as it was in its heyday, the classic recipe is still very much alive.
According to bartending legend and author Gary Regan, the original Cosmopolitan was created in 1985 by Miami bartender Cheryl Cook while working at a South Beach bar called the Strand. Eager to invent a new cocktail for the Martini glass, Cook riffed on the classic Kamikaze by using a newly introduced citrus-flavored vodka, plus a splash of cranberry juice.
There’s some debate about who created the original Cosmopolitan. Many believe, like Regan, that it was first mixed by Cook. Others believe that Dale DeGroff concocted it at New York City’s Rainbow Room, or that Toby Cecchini first devised a Cosmo in 1988 during his tenure at New York’s Odeon.
Cosmopolitan
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces vodka
3/4 ounce triple sec
3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 ounce cranberry juice cocktail
Garnish: lime wedge
Steps
Add the vodka, triple sec, lime juice, and cranberry juice cocktail into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
