Cosmopolitan

A classic Vodka, Cranberry, and Orange flavoured cocktail, the Cosmopolitan or "Cosmo" is easy to make and easy to drink. These cocktails are great for any occaision or any time of day, so just enjoy them to relax.

While the recipe for the Cosmo has been around for awhile, the drink gained a lot of popularity in the 1990's due to its repeated appearance in Sex and the City. While popularity has wained a little in recent years, it remains a well know cocktail that appears on a lot of menus.

There's a certain sophistication to a Cosmopolitan, so making a few of these is a good way to make yourself feel fancy. Of course it's fancier to drink a Cosmo out of a proper Martini glass, but if you're short of those, any kind of glass works!

Total Time 3

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

45 mL Vodka
15 mL Triple Sec or any Orange Liqueur
30 mL Cranberry Juice
15 mL Lime Juice

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shake until cold.
Strain into a Martini glass.
Serve, enjoy.

Notes

Although the Cosmopolitan is a relatively modern cocktail, its creation was born out of the 1930's with a very similar cocktail containing Gin, Cointreau, Lemon Juice, and Raspberry Syrup. This would have tasted very similar except for the Raspberry Syrup versus the Cranberry Juice; they have vaguely similar tastes, but of course they're different fruits.

It's possible the recipe moved more towards Cranberry Juice in the 1950's as Cranberry Juice became more popular. We have no evidence to back up this theory, but it's a worthwhile assumption. Cocktail recipes change over time, and this is obviously one of them.

Our Review of the Cosmopolitan

Love it or hate it, the Cosmopolitan is certainly a popular cocktail. It does have a bit of a reputation thanks to that show I won’t mention. I’m not 100% sure of what the reputation is or whether it’s deserved though because I haven’t seen said show.

What I do know is that the Cosmopolitan is a good cocktail. There’s nothing in there that’s bad or risky. The Cosmo has orange, cranberry, and lime flavours, and what’s not to like there? But in some ways, I find the Cosmo a little underwhelming. Sure, it’s a great cocktail recipe to make with ingredients you’re likely to have, but it just feels so basic without the charm that basic cocktails generally have. A Daiquiri, for example, is also basic, but there’s some charm to it.

For me I think it’s the use of vodka. vodka famously doesn’t add much flavour to a cocktail, that’s kind of the point. Yes, even vodka isn’t supposed to taste like something, it still tastes like something, even the good ones. So, in my opinion at least, a Cosmopolitan is just supposed to taste like a mixture of triple sec, cranberry, and lime juices, with the V odka added for a kick.

While there’s nothing wrong with using vodka to simply add booze to a cocktail, personally I want more going on with other flavours if that’s going to happen. I also want to add that I’m not trying to discount the entirety of vodka based cocktails, because there are some good ones out there. But a Cosmo leaves me wanting something else in there.

Personally, I don’t like giving negative reviews for cocktails. I love cocktails! And even a lacklustre cocktail is better than no cocktail at all. So the Cosmopolitan isn’t all bad. The flavours of the fruit are lovely and combine well. Cranberry can be a little bit tart, but the juice is watered down enough (ironically mostly from the vodka) to keep things tasty.

What do readers think? Have I got this right or am I overly hating the Cosmopolitan. Let me know.

6/10

Review by Bobby

Here’s a few more cocktail recipes for you to try

Vodka is a great base for cocktail recipes. You’ll notice there are a ton of recipes that have Vodka; we’re not sure if that’s because it is such a good base, or because people just like Vodka so much. Either way, it means there are plenty of Vodka cocktail recipes on this website for you to browse through:

Top 10 Vodka cocktail recipes: to make things a bit easier, we’ve narrowed things down to just our ten favourite Vodka cocktail recipes.

All Vodka cocktail recipes: if you need more recipes, just browse through everything we have on offer. There’s so many there, you’re sure to find a new favourite.

Top 20 classic cocktail recipes: the Cosmo is a nice classic. Come and see our favourites!

All classic cocktail recipes: or just flick through all the classic recipes we have to offer. Then you can make a list of your own favourites!