Food - Drink
Why A '90s Cocktail Revival Is Likely On The Horizon
By LAUREN ROTHMAN
The late 1990s and early 2000s had many trends in the cocktail world and none were as popular as the Cosmopolitan. The Cosmo grew in popularity due to HBO’s “Sex and the City,” but once the show ended, the drink’s demand began to fade — but the Cosmo and other popular cocktails, like the espresso martini and green Appletini, are making a comeback.
The original ingredients that made up a Cosmopolitan were citrus vodka, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and cranberry juice cocktail. With its comeback, an update has been made and called the Cosmo Nouveau, which swaps pomegranate juice for cranberry cocktail, and replaces the artificially flavored and sweetened vodkas used in the past with vodkas infused with real fruit.
According to Lynnette Marrero, “Cocktails come in cycles. Right now we're seeing '90s fashion and a nostalgia for rediscovering these drinks, but from bartenders with a better arsenal of ingredients.” Craft cocktail pioneer Julie Reiner has updated the Appletini using apple-infused gin and vodka, apple brandy, and apple liqueur instead of the earlier neon green ingredients.