The Post-Peak Tenure Of a New Classic 

The Cosmo may or may not be the drink sensation that it was  in the early 1990s. For many venues, it’s a matter of location, brand and theme prerequisites and customer demographics as to whether it’s still raining revenue from Cosmo sales, or else the cash flow from them has slowed to the more normal levels of other popular drink standards.

A Comfortable Standard
    At Employees Only (EO), a popular Manhattan cocktail lounge located at 510 Hudson Street downtown, co-owner Jason Kosmas and his three business partners — a maitre d and two other veteran New York mixologists — missed the original Cosmo boat altogether.
    Yet in his capacity as partner with EO’s Dushan Zaric in Cocktail Concepts — a consulting firm that advises hospitality brands such as Westin Hotels as well as other well-known cocktail establishments such as Bar Marmont in Los Angeles on better beverage experiences — Kosmas maintains a healthy respect for the Cosmo and what it continues to bring to the bottom line.
    “People identify with what they are comfortable with,” Kosmas says. “And they are comfortable with Cosmos and the Martini.” Still pretty in pink as a drink that women have identified as “sophisticated without being pretentious” Kosmas says the Cosmo does not belong on every beverage menu out there. But all else being equal, he is more than willing to bet on it to remain a cocktail player for the foreseeable future.
“I think you will still see it around. It is a modern classic. It has become as well known as a Margarita.”
    When it does fit the theme, the demographic and the customer goals of a given bar or club, Kosmas says there are a number of strategies that the house can adopt to maximize sales and cash in on the Cosmo.
    “Consistency is important,” Kosmas says. “You can always debate what is the best recipe, but once bartenders agree on the best way to make it, it should then be a house drink, and it should be consistent among everyone there.”
Although this is a consideration that ultimately goes to taste, consistency begins with the color, he says. “It should be a light pink color, and I like the orange twist as a garnish. It is a little bit different.
    “It’s important to use fresh lime juice and Cointreau instead of Triple Sec,” he says. “And a good cranberry juice –– Ocean Spray is what I use.”
Along with consistency and quality, Kosmas says the balance of ingredients in a Cosmo can make a huge difference in customer satisfaction and repeat sales as well.     “The one thing about a nice Cosmo is that it should straddle the lines between sweet and sour,” he says. “If it is too much of one or the other, it becomes two-dimensional.”
Kosmas is well aware of macho bartenders who bristle at the very thought of making a girly drink like the Cosmo. Yet as he is quick to remind them of a basic truth.
“The one thing they forget is that those drinks attract women, and women attract men, which brings in the money. It’s a simple equation.”                                    NCB