Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
If Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha time traveled to 2021, would they still be slinging back cranberry ‘tinis?
Oh, wait, they are coming back (sans Samantha) when And Just Like That…, a Sex and the City reboot airs on HBO Max. Huge news for SATC fans!
Absolutely they would be throwing back Cosmos like it’s 1999, only the cocktails would be elevated. The Cosmos would be more crafted and likely served as an inspired variation, perhaps with a note of cinnamon and a vodka or triple sec tweak.
The Cosmopolitan cocktail famously served around Manhattan in the ’90s at a glance:
Bar legend Dale Degroff was shaking them at the Rainbow Room.
Madonna was seen drinking one.
Then came Sex and the City when the Cosmo was forever immortalized.
The classic Cosmo is made with citrus-flavored vodka (such as Absolut Citron), triple sec, cranberry juice and fresh lime juice.
When the Cosmo was made fresh, as created, it wasn’t exactly a sugar bomb.
The rest of us in Middle America, however, experienced cheapened, dumbed-down versions of the Cosmo, commonly made with cranberry cocktail concentrate and cloying Rose’s lime cordial sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Yuck.
Either way, it was served splashing out of an oversized martini glass leftover from the ’80s and the dawn of “fruit’tinis,” now seen as a tragic era in the history of cocktails.
“Why did we ever stop drinking these?” – Miranda
“Cause everyone else started.” – Carrie
The Cosmo of the Covid era
Truth be told, I wouldn’t have been caught dead requesting a Cosmo in craft cocktail bars a few years ago for fear of judgment, but the cocktail’s resurgence has been hard to miss—and I’ve totally been intrigued.
Pinkish-red cocktails just have that allure—and Cosmos feel so nostalgic ’90s.
(I should know; I was there—only in Chicago, not New York City.)
We didn’t have Netflix or smart phones in the ’90s and sippin’ cranberry “martinis” while swaying to bar anthems like “Closing Time” by Semisonic made us pretty darn happy!
‘And just like that…,’ we’re drinking Cosmos again.
And if Dale Degroff ever wants to make me that Cosmo he served celebs at the Rainbow Room many shoe trends ago, I’m here for it.
If shoulder pads and a Fendi baguette can feel chic again, so too can the Cosmo!
Creating and perfecting your own Batch Cosmo
Flavored vodka
Experiment! The base spirit in the Milk Punch Media batch Cosmo is Ketel One Botanical Grapefruit & Rose Vodka. All natural, it adds subtle floral and citrus flavor to an otherwise neutral spirit. 
Carrie Bradshaw would be obsessed! Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka would be amazing.
Cranberry juice
Buy juice, not “cranberry cocktail” that’s loaded with added sugar. Look for 100 percent cranberry juice or pomegranate juice, which contains Vitamin C and antioxidants.
Triple sec
Don’t skimp here either: reach for the Grand Marnier, a Cognac-based orange liqueur (Cognac makes everything better!) or another liqueur that will complement.
Lime juice
Don’t even think of buying bottle juice! Squeeze fresh lime juice. Well worth the small effort. Pro tip: Squeeze lime at the last minute before serving for best results.
Add water to the batch
Shaking cocktails not only chills the drink, it also dilutes it. Water is added here when batching.
Garnish
No flamed orange peel here (sorry, Dale Degroff). At Milk Punch Media, we garnish Cosmos with blueberries and blackberries, superfoods chosen for a little nutritional nibble and prettiness. A lime wheel is also totally appropriate.