Who doesn’t know the legendary cosmopolitan? The pink-hued, Martini-style drink gained popularity through its recurring cameo in the most famous show, ‘Sex And The City.’ Ever since cosmopolitan has been the girl’s night out drink and earned quite a reputation among women.

In addition to this, the cocktail has been introduced in a variety of variations which have never failed to surprise its fans. One of its variations includes a Chambord cosmopolitan. But, before getting into the technicalities of the drink, let’s dive into its history and understand what made this drink so popular as it is today, shall we?

According to the author Gary Regan, the cosmopolitan was created by bartender Cheryl Cook in 1985, while he was working at a South Beach Bar called Strand, in Miami. 

However, there has been a bit of a controversy hanging around the subject of the creation of cosmopolitanism. Some believe that it was created by Dale DeGroff at New York City’s Rainbow Room. Others believe that it was first created by Toby Cecchini during his tenure at New York’s Odeon.

All of these above-mentioned names are somewhere related to creating a classic cosmopolitan as they have introduced several variations to the cocktail and have earned immense popularity for the same.

Now that we are clear of how a classic cosmopolitan came into being, let us understand how to make one and what are the ingredients involved, before discussing its variations.

How To Make A Classic Cosmopolitan?

A cosmopolitan cocktail is mainly known for its interesting ingredients which include citrus-flavored vodka, cranberry juice, orange liqueur, and fresh lime juice. Once all these ingredients are mixed well, it is shaken in a cocktail shaker. After all this, it is finally served in a Martini glass. More often than not, a classic cosmopolitan comes with an orange peel garnish.

The ingredients to be mixed for a classic Cosmo?

• Take one-fourth ounce of lime juice. Remember, it has to be freshly squeezed.
• Take one ounce of orange-flavored liqueur.
• One and a half citrus-flavored vodka
• Ice
• Orange peel for garnishing purposes

Recipe

• Before beginning the entire process, always remember to chill a martini glass.
• After that, take a cocktail shaker and combine all the ingredients in it, that is, lime juice, orange liqueur, and citrus vodka.
• Next, add some ice and shake the cocktail shaker.
• Pour the mixture directly into the chilled martini glass
• Now, garnish the drink with the orange peel.

This is one of the recipes of a classic cosmopolitan. There are several variations of a cosmopolitan which include:

1. Instead of using orange liqueur, use a similar amount of fruit-flavored schnapps, which could be anything from peaches to blackberries.
2. You can also use a similar amount of liqueur which comes in cherry flavor such as Luxardo cherry liqueur instead of using orange liqueur.
3. More often than not, orange peels become a little too boring. Therefore, you can also use some other fun garnishes such as a sugared rim or a maraschino cherry.
4. Instead of using lime juice which is very commonplace, you can also use orange juice or even grapefruit juice. However, always remember to use a freshly squeezed one.
5. As mentioned earlier, a classic cosmopolitan comes in pink-hues. However, you can change it to a blue by using white cranberry juice and blue curacao instead of adding orange liqueur to it.
6. If you want to spice a level up, you can also replace vodka with rum. This version is typically called the Barbados cosmopolitan.

Apart from these variations, there is one variation which is increasingly becoming popular these days. It is called a Chambord Cosmopolitan.

A Chambord Cosmopolitan is one of the variations of a classic cosmopolitan which is made from vodka, Chambord raspberry liqueur, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and lime juice.

What is included in a Chambord Cosmopolitan recipe?

• Similar to a classic cosmopolitan, take one ounce of vodka.
• A half-ounce of Chambord Raspberry Liqueur.
• A half-ounce of Cointreau which means orange liqueur.
• A half-ounce of Cranberry juice
• One-fourth ounce of lime juice
• You can a raspberry or lime for garnishment purposes

Recipe for a Chambord Cosmopolitan Cocktail

• The process is quite similar to a classic cosmo. You shake all the ingredients along with ice in a cocktail shaker.
• Then strain it into a chilled cocktail glass.
• You can garnish it with lime or raspberry.

Tips to make a great Chambord Cosmopolitan

1. As mentioned earlier, always remember to use a chilled glass. You can chill it by using a scoop of ice and a splash of water while shaking the ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
2. Next, you can dump the ice water and once you are done with shaking, you can strain it in the chilled glass.
3. Not only a chilled martini glass but also a chilled vodka.
4. When it comes to the taste and quality of vodka, you can choose the best vodka you can afford. The best of them is citrus vodka which helps in spicing things up.
5. While adding lime juice to the drink, use a freshly squeezed one as it provides a better flavor than the premade lime juices.
6. There are different types of orange liqueur. So, you might need to experiment with which orange liqueur tastes the best for you.
7. While adding cranberry juice, use an unsweetened version.
8. Before using orange peel as the garnish, squeeze the peel over the glass with the skin side down, so it helps in releasing the oils in the cocktail.
9. Remember that while using orange peel as the garnish, do not use the white part as it will induce a bitter flavor to your drink.

With this Chambord cosmopolitan recipe and other variations, you can now step into a bar and order whichever cosmopolitan suits you best, be it with vodka or orange liqueur. Enjoy this guilty pleasure of your life which is lip-smackingly delicious enough to not make you feel guilty.   

Also Read: Lip Smacking Chambord Cosmopolitan