Another Take on the Cosmopolitan
It's getting to be that time of year... which means bringing back an old favorite drink, the Cosmopolitan! Except I don't actually like a real Cosmo. A few years ago I tried variations on the classic recipe and didn't like any of them. Then I tried an unorthodox alternative using... of all weird things... Cranberry Sprite Zero. It was awesome. I called it a Suburban.
This year I looked for Cranberry Sprite Zero as we headed into the winter holidays. It's a seasonal item. Except this year none of the stores in the area carry it. I even checked with the manufacturer; Amazon was the only nearby distributor they listed. So I checked on Amazon... and the only seller with any in stock wanted $17 for a 2L botle. Seventeen dollars?? For a product that normally lists at $2 and can be found on good sales for $1? No f-ing way!
I had a taste for Cosmopolitans/Suburbans, though. And more importantly, I had a few liquors I wanted to finish off: one of my bottles of Vodka and my bottle of Grand Marnier. I want to finish these off because I'm not using them much otherwise. They're too good to just pour down the drain. So I thought of drinks I could use them in. Remember, this is my drink-making application of the computer scheduling algorithm Shortest Job First. I've called it Shortest Bottle First.
Anyway, the challenge here is cranberry juice sucks and cranberry soda isn't available. I considered what to substitute and after a bit of thought I came up with... bitters! Angostura bitters. The recipe took a bit of iteration to work out right, but now I've got it dialed in and really enjoy it.
Really Weird Cosmopolitan
1½ jigger Vodka
½ jigger Grand Marnier
3 jiggers Club Soda
splash of Torani Black Cherry Syrup
splash of Lime Juice
splash of Angostura Bitters
Stir in glass with ice
Note, "splash" means something different each of the three times I use it above. Hey, I've got to keep some secrets for the house!
This year I looked for Cranberry Sprite Zero as we headed into the winter holidays. It's a seasonal item. Except this year none of the stores in the area carry it. I even checked with the manufacturer; Amazon was the only nearby distributor they listed. So I checked on Amazon... and the only seller with any in stock wanted $17 for a 2L botle. Seventeen dollars?? For a product that normally lists at $2 and can be found on good sales for $1? No f-ing way!
I had a taste for Cosmopolitans/Suburbans, though. And more importantly, I had a few liquors I wanted to finish off: one of my bottles of Vodka and my bottle of Grand Marnier. I want to finish these off because I'm not using them much otherwise. They're too good to just pour down the drain. So I thought of drinks I could use them in. Remember, this is my drink-making application of the computer scheduling algorithm Shortest Job First. I've called it Shortest Bottle First.
Anyway, the challenge here is cranberry juice sucks and cranberry soda isn't available. I considered what to substitute and after a bit of thought I came up with... bitters! Angostura bitters. The recipe took a bit of iteration to work out right, but now I've got it dialed in and really enjoy it.
Really Weird Cosmopolitan
1½ jigger Vodka
½ jigger Grand Marnier
3 jiggers Club Soda
splash of Torani Black Cherry Syrup
splash of Lime Juice
splash of Angostura Bitters
Stir in glass with ice
Note, "splash" means something different each of the three times I use it above. Hey, I've got to keep some secrets for the house!