Cosmo Cooler will help you get your summer cool on

The thermometer has been hitting the high 90’s day after day in Salt Lake City with only token relief in sight.  That means it’s time for summer coolers: those tall drinks that go down so well in your chair on the deck after a long day at work or after a hot session with the lawn mower.  Consider, then, a Cosmopolitan served cooler style.

Among aficionados of the cocktail, the Cosmopolitan is often maligned.  True, Vodka is not the most interesting cocktail ingredient that you will find, and Vodka has been called a blank slate waiting to be written upon (and that is a statement that is hard to disagree with).  True, Cosmos are the drink of seemingly frivolous people like the ladies on Sex in the City, and Cosmos contain no Whiskey or Bitters.  On the other hand, the shelves of the liquor stores are full of the stuff and almost everyone has a bottle in their bar, including me. So why not use it in a summer cooler?

Scaling a cocktail normally served “up” to a cooler is not always just a matter of adding ice and soda.  You must look at the list of ingredients and quantities and decide if some should be changed.  Avoid increasing the liquor (or at least don’t increase it by much).  People drink coolers when it’s hot, and it’s easy to have another, so too much liquor per cooler can lead to problems.  For the Cosmo Cooler, the Utah Mixologist decreased the Vodka, increased the Triple Sec, lime juice and cranberry juice for more flavor, and added some Grenadine for additional flavor and for extra sweetness to offset the increased lime juice.  Feel free to play around with the proportions (or replace part of the cranberry juice with Seltzer) and post a response if you think you have developed a better recipe.

Cosmo Cooler

• 1 ½ oz Vodka
• ¾ oz Triple Sec
• 1 oz Lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
• 1 oz Grenadine (preferably made with Pomegranate)
• 4 oz Cranberry juice

Pour ingredients into a shaker 2/3 full of ice.  Shake briskly until the shaker frosts up. Strain into large Collins glass 3/4 full of ice, top with soda or seltzer water if needed and stir lightly.  Garnish with a lime wheel and serve with a straw.  (You may also build this drink in the glass, but your cocktail will stay cooler longer if you shake it with ice…)