Baldfaced Pandering: Embracing The "Mellow" Cocktail

“Yikes, that’s a bit too strong,” is a phrase that you don’t want to hear after having just putting on some cologne or mixing someone a cocktail. Many people enjoy a good cocktail, but don’t like the strong alcohol flavor of a straight cocktail, like a Martini, Manhattan, or even a Cosmopolitan.

So in response to JD’s orders to pander to women readers, I have some mellowed cocktail recipes. KIDDING!  I’m kidding.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

The truth is, I’ve fielded many requests from men, women, experienced drinkers, and novices for less bracing cocktails.  Not everyone is looking for the pure-booze experience and a fun way to mellow out cocktails is to splice together recipes.  Not a scary, “Island of Dr. Moreau” kind of spliced together, but a friendlier, more complimentary melding of styles, like Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder in “Ebony and Ivory.”

A favorite recipe mash-up of mine is the Cape Cosmo. Of course, the Cosmopolitan enjoyed a recent surge of popularity after being featured in “Sex in the City” (No, still not pandering). The Cosmo is beautiful and flavorful drink, but at the end of the mix it’s pretty much all vodka and triple sec with just a bit of cranberry and lime juice. Often people confuse the mellow Cape Cod, which is a bit of vodka softened by a good portion of cranberry juice, for the more booze-heavy Cosmo.  Fortunately, you don’t need a super-committee to find middle ground because the two recipes combine nicely into a very tasty and beautiful cocktail.

                                                  Cape Cosmo

                                                   Ingredients

* 2 oz. Vodka  *1 oz. Triple Sec  * ½ oz. Lime Juice  * 6 oz. Cranberry Juice

Start with a Collins/Highball or any 8-10 oz. glass, about half-full of ice.  Add the vodka, triple sec and lime juice first.  If you add the booze first, you don’t have to measure the cranberry juice, which you can just pour to taste.  Give the drink a stir and garnish with a lime wedge. You’re pretty much building a pimped Cape Cod, so you can reference the attached video with addition of the triple sec and lime juice and little extra vodka.

If you’re looking for some more fun cocktail-related videos, check out the 30-Second Bartender channel on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/30secondbartender.  And, don’t forget to give me a “like” on Facebook.  More recipes are available at www.30-SecondBartender.com!

Download the movie