Ginger Cosmopolitan

December 8, 2010 (Day 312) — Ginger Cosmopolitan

Yesterday we made what definitely amounts to a party drink. Let’s take it down a notch tonight and tease up the class just a little bit more.

You know, classy! Jenn and I have a Williams-Sonoma holiday cookbook that’s filled with lots of entertainment ideas, and a nice long list of cocktails to bust out at your next holiday hootenanny. One that caught our eye not too long ago was the Ginger Cosmopolitan, a standard Cosmo with with some fresh ginger to give it a nice little zing.

Now, in the past I’ve actually come to the defense of a well-made, true Cosmopolitan.

Despite this group's best efforts.

After all, there are reasons it has become one of the great classics. A well-made, well-balanced Cosmo can actually be pretty tasty, even if you may severely jeopardize your fragile manhood in the process. After all it is like a flower. A delicate, rugged flower. So, let’s bust out your fresh ingredients, take your balls out of your purse and man up. We’re making this, bitch.

Ginger Cosmopolitan

1 slice of peeled, fresh ginger, about 1/4 inch thick

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

2 oz vodka

4 oz cranberry juice

1 tablespoon orange liqueur

Put your ginger at the bottom of a Boston shaker and top with the lime juice. Muddle the ginger until it’s almost pulp. Fill the shaker halfway with crushed ice, then top with the orange liqueur, cranberry juice, and vodka. Cover and shake well, until a frost forms on the outside. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass, otherwise you’ll have to deal with floaties. No one likes floaties in their cocktail. It makes it look like dirty rain water.

Unless that’s your thing of course.

And, to be perfectly level with you, I don't really want to know about your "things."

Garnish with shaved ginger on a cocktail skewer.

This is a great variation on the classic cocktail. If done right, you’ve used just enough ginger to give the slightest hint of the root’s earthy twang on the nose and the end. My original fear was that the drink would be overpoweringly ginger, as ginger has a tendency to overpower other flavors, while simultaneously insulting their mothers. However, the mixture is just perfect enough to work. You can smell the ginger in the drink, but it really just shows up on the tongue as a very pleasant aftertaste. It takes what I would call a more summery drink and turns it into something bright for the holiday season.

Plus, you can never really beat great colors like that in a holiday drink.

So, guys, yeah you may feel a bit of a sissy drinking a Ginger Cosmo while out at the bar. But, here’s some friendly advice from your neighborhood cocktail writer — Man up, pussy. If you’re so insecure you can’t have a foofy drink in public, maybe you’ve got some other issues you need to work out.

Cheers!

— Mark