Cosmopolitan — Cosmo became a punchline but it's actually a perfectly

The Cosmopolitan became a punchline, but it’s actually a perfectly balanced cranberry-citrus sour that deserves better than vodka bar rail and bottled juice.

Ingredients

• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1 oz triple sec or Cointreau
• 1 oz pure cranberry juice
• 1 lime wheel
• Garnish: a lime wheel

Method

Grab your shaker and fill it with ice. Add the vodka first, then the lime juice. The triple sec goes in next — Cointreau is worth the upgrade here, but any decent orange liqueur works. Now the cranberry juice. This is where most people mess up. You want pure cranberry juice, not the sweetened cocktail stuff. It should be tart, almost mouth-puckering. Half an ounce gives you color and tartness without overwhelming the lime. Shake hard for twelve seconds. You want it cold enough that the shaker frosts in your hands. Double strain through a fine mesh strainer into your glass.

Serve

Serve this up in a coupe — no ice. Float a thin lime wheel on top. The drink should be pale pink, not bright red.

Pro Tip

Pure cranberry juice makes all the difference. Ocean Spray makes one — check the label and make sure it says one hundred percent cranberry juice, not cranberry juice cocktail. It’s more expensive but the tartness balances perfectly with the lime and orange liqueur. If you can only find sweetened cranberry juice, use less — maybe a quarter ounce — and add a splash of fresh lime juice to compensate.