“Candace Bushnell was a pretty permanent fixture at places like Elaine’s in New York during the ’90s, and so would have been exposed to the drink in its initial flair of fame here in New York City. It’s unclear how the cosmo ended up on SATC a decade after it initially hit New York’s bars, but Cecchini has an idea. Since then, Cecchini adds, its popularity has wavered, but it’s never stopped symbolizing a night out with the girls. Cecchini swapped in Absolut Citron vodka, fresh lime juice, Cointreau (an orange-flavored liqueur), and Ocean Spray cranberry juice, and the drink took the city by storm. The cosmo as we know it is his improved version of a mixed drink that was popular in San Francisco gay bars at the time, originally calling for rail vodka, Rose’s lime juice, and grenadine. “Good drinks wax and wane over time, sometimes goosed by current media, as with the old-fashioned after Mad Men came out,” says Toby Cecchini, who originally concocted the cosmopolitan while working at TriBeCa hot spot The Odeon in 1988, 10 years before the first episode of Sex and the City aired. But if you ask its creator, the cosmo never quite left. The same can be said for the show’s mascot: the cosmopolitan, a neoclassic New York City drink in the throes of a resurgence alongside its four most iconic drinkers. Cheers to that.Love it or hate it, Sex and the City is an undeniable fixture of the late ’90s and early aughts, and its 2021 revival-and reception thereof-a testament to the power of nostalgia for that era. And so he should be, the Cosmopolitan is one of the only craft cocktails-alongside the Espresso Martini and the Bramble-to come out of the era of big hair and endure. Shrimp cocktails start making the rounds, A-ha’s Take on Me is blasted throughout the venue, and it’s clear that Cecchini has not only embraced his ‘80s past he’s proud of it. I dutifully follow his recipe-which is detailed below-and make my first proper Cosmo. The event was organized in partnership with Cointreau, so there is orange liqueur aplenty. While Cecchini talks, we’re invited to shake up our own cocktail. Now I could double strain it but this a drink of its era.” “I don’t double strain it because we didn’t do that back then, so it has those ice shards that keep diluting it. You must shake it like crazy and refrain from a double strain. It is the sum of its elements and I am somewhat loathe to change them because it works,” he explains.Īlso key is how you mix it. “Believe it or not, this drink comes out the way that it does because of those four elements. He took the name and not much else.Ĭecchini himself has experimented with upscale ingredients, he’s even tried infusing vodka with lemon peel, but he says it’s just not as good. Cecchini thought it was “super cute and pretty but disgusting,” so he decided to do his own riff. This version of the Cosmopolitan was a mix of vodka, Rose’s lime and grenadine. Here, fellow bartender Melissa Huffsmith-Roth showed a fresh-faced Cecchini a cocktail that had become popular around San Francisco’s gay bars. The effusive mixologist-who has written about spirits for The New York Times-tells us he invented the Cosmopolitan back in 1988 while working at Tribeca’s fabled bar The Odeon. I’m gathered with a few other imbibers in Cecchini’s Brooklyn landmark, the Long Island Bar, on an otherwise average Tuesday. Thankfully, the man who invented the drink is about to deliver a masterclass on the ‘90s favorite. I sip, it’s so sour it makes my mouth pucker, and I realize I’ve been drinking Cosmopolitans wrong my whole life. “You want a punch in the teeth of lime,” bartender Toby Cecchini says, as he pours a blush pink concoction into an iced martini glass.
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