Red currant cosmopolitan cocktail recipe

A delicious red currant Cosmopolitan cocktail recipe. A fruity and refreshing recipe. Super easy and quick to prepare. With Vodka and Triple Sec, lime juice, some sparkling wine, and a homemade red currant syrup. An elegant drink to serve as a signature drink for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and a dinner party.

A Cosmopolitan was first prepared in the 1930s but got popular in the 1970s (Wikipedia). And it got its revival in the 1990s where most people know it from Sex and the City where Carrie ordered a Cosmopolitan quite often.

Jump to:

• What's Triple sec?
• Which ingredients do you use in this cocktail recipe?
• How do you prepare this Cosmopolitan cocktail with red currants?
• Preparation and storage
• 📖 Recipe

What's Triple sec?

A Cosmopolitan recipe contains Vodka, lime juice, and Triple Sec. But what's Triple sec exactly? A Triple sec is a colorless liqueur which got an Orange flavor. Its alcohol percentage varies between 15 - 40 %. The most known Triple secs are Grand Marnier and Cointreau. And the first one I've used for this recipe.

Which ingredients do you use in this cocktail recipe?

The next ingredients do you use in this Cosmopolitan cocktail recipe with red currants. In this recipe, homemade red currant syrup, liqueur, sparkling wine, and lime juice are used.

1. Red currants: use fresh red currants. They've got a slightly sour flavor and are refreshing. I got a box of Dutch red currants which were delicious.
2. Sugar, water, and Sea salt: the other flavors of the red currant syrup.
3. Vodka: a colorless liqueur and one of the common ingredients of a Cosmopolitan cocktail recipe.
4. Grand Marnier: in a Cosmopolitan you use a Triple-sec. In this recipe, I used Grand Marnier, but you could use Cointreau instead.
5. Sparkling wine: To make this cocktail even more entertaining, I used a sparkling dry wine (like Prosecco). But if you want to make it even more special you could substitute it with Champagne.

How do you prepare this Cosmopolitan cocktail with red currants?

A printable recipe with easy steps can be found at the bottom of this blogpost.

Step 1: Prepare the red currant syrup. Remove the currants from the stems and put them with the sugar, water, and sea salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Put a fine sieve on a bowl and pour the red currants into the sieve (with a spoon you can press extra juice through the sieve). Let the strained liquid cool for 5 minutes.

Step 2: Pour liqueur, syrup, and lime juice into the shaker. Take a cocktail shaker and pour Vodka, Grand Marnier, 5 teaspoons of red currant syrup, and the juice of ½ lime.

Step 3: Add Sparkling wine and ice cubes to the shaker. And shake it! Fill the shaker with the Sparkling wine and a handful of ice cubes. Put the lid on the shaker and make sure you keep it in place with your hand (you don't want your lid to get off when shaking and your cocktail splashing out). Shake for 1 minute.

Step 4: Sieve the Cosmopolitan and pour in a glass. While keeping the sieve on the shaker (so only remove the small lid), you pour the Cosmopolitan cocktail in a glass. Garnish with lime slices and red currants. Serve immediately so it's really cold. Cheers!

• Instead of red currants, you can use strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries.
• By adding ⅛ teaspoon Sea salt to the syrup, the sweet flavor will become enhanced.
• Keep your hand on the lid of the cocktail shaker while shaking. You don't want to splash your cocktail all around the house.
• Sieve the red currant syrup, so you remove all seeds and skins from your syrup.
• In a Cosmopolitan cocktail recipe, you use Triple Sec. I choose Grand Marnier, but you can substitute it with Cointreau.
• For an even more elegant cocktail, you can replace the sparkling wine with Champagne.
• Pour the Cosmopolitan through a sieve into your glass. You want it cold, but not diluted by the ice.

Preparation and storage

• The red currant syrup can be prepared in advance and kept for 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. With this red currant syrup, you can make up to 10 cocktails.
• When you prepare a Cosmopolitan drink it immediately. You don't want it to get warmed up. And you can't store it either.

Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!

📖 Recipe

I received the red currants from Kroon op het werk. For more information read the disclaimer.