The non-alcoholic Cosmopolitan

The modern cosmopolitan took shape in the 1980s and 1990s, and became famous in the Sex and the City era. The standard recipe is citrus vodka, Cointreau (or triple sec), cranberry juice and fresh lime, shaken and served up in a martini glass with an orange or lime twist.

It's a sour at heart: spirit, citrus and a sweetener, with cranberry for color and fruit. Here's what each part does:

• Citrus vodka: body and dryness. It's the biggest pour, and it stops the drink from tasting like juice.
• Orange liqueur: orange peel, sweetness and weight. Cointreau is intensely orange and quite sweet. It's the secret of a good cosmo.
• Cranberry: color, tartness and fruit. Only an ounce or so, just enough to turn it pink.
• Lime: brightness. Fresh, always.

In a cosmopolitan mocktail, the vodka and Cointreau swaps have to supply dryness and orange intensity without adding sugar, because cranberry juice cocktail is already sweet. A pinch of salt gives the drink body, and a hard shake with plenty of ice gives it the cold, slightly aerated texture of the real thing.

The glass and garnish matter more than they seem to. Serve it in a coupe or martini glass straight from the freezer, because a cosmo has no ice in the glass and warms up quickly. An orange twist, expressed over the top so the oils mist the surface, adds the aroma that the missing alcohol would otherwise lift out of the drink.

There isn't a ready-made non-alcoholic cosmopolitan in our catalogue yet, and no cosmo mix either. The closest canned drink we list is Mocktail Club Capri Spritz: pomegranate and a cranberry shrub with lemongrass and gentian, sweetened with agave. It's tart, fruity and lightly bitter, and poured cold into a coupe with a twist of orange, it's a decent stand-in when you don't want to shake anything. It's lighter and fizzier than a cosmo, though.

The orange liqueur (the triple sec slot)

This is the swap that matters most. The best non alcoholic triple sec gives a strong orange-peel flavor with little or no sugar, because the cranberry and syrup handle the sweetness.

There are two good ones in our catalogue, and they pull the drink in different directions.

• Dhōs Orange is our pick for a tart cosmo. It's a triple sec stand-in with orange peel and bitter orange, and no sugar. You get all the orange without tipping the drink into sweetness. Use it one-for-one where a recipe calls for Cointreau.
• Lyre's Orange Sec is a dry orange liqueur alternative with sweet and bitter orange. It has more sweetness and body than Dhōs, so it's closer to Cointreau's richness and makes a rounder, smoother cosmo. If you use it, skip any extra syrup. Lyre's pairs it with its Pink London Spirit for its own cosmo.

If you can't find either, here's a non alcoholic triple sec substitute you can make at home: a quarter-ounce of fresh orange juice, a quarter-ounce of simple syrup and a strip of orange peel shaken hard with the other ingredients. The peel's oils give you the Cointreau aroma. Two drops of orange blossom water help too.

The vodka

What the drink really needs from vodka is a dry, clean backbone, ideally with citrus, since the classic recipe uses citrus vodka. There are now zero-proof vodkas that do the first part, and botanical spirits that do the second.

• Seedlip Grove 42 is still our pick. It's three oranges, lemongrass and ginger, zesty and dry. It lines up with the orange liqueur and gives the drink the citrus edge a citrus vodka would, without sweetness.
• CleanCo Clean V is the best non-alcoholic vodka for a cosmopolitan if you want the classic, cleaner build. It's wheat and rye with ginger, pimento and black pepper for the burn, and sugar-free. Pair it with Dhōs Orange and add an extra strip of orange peel for the citrus.
• Dhōs Vodka Free is deliberately neutral, with a touch of horseradish warmth and zero sugar. It lets the cranberry and orange do all the talking.
• Optimist Bright is a botanical spirit pitched as a lemony vodka: lemon, green mandarin, jasmine and lavender. It's the closest thing we list to a citrus vodka, and it makes a more floral cosmo.
• Lyre's Dry London Spirit makes a slightly more herbal, gin-leaning cosmo, which is closer to how some bartenders make it anyway.
• Lyre's Pink London Spirit is red berries, rosehip and juniper, floral and fruity with a dry finish, and Lyre's suggests it for a pink Cosmopolitan. It brings its own berry note, so you need less cranberry.
• Fluere Raspberry Blend is distilled fresh raspberries over juniper, lavender and lime peel. Fruity and lightly sweet, it makes a softer, raspberry-leaning cosmo.

The cranberry

The cranberry is where you control sweetness. Cranberry juice cocktail is sweetened; pure unsweetened cranberry juice is very tart. Use one ounce of cranberry juice cocktail, or three-quarters of an ounce of unsweetened cranberry plus a quarter-ounce of simple syrup. The second gives you a drier, more grown-up cosmo and a deeper color. Rose's Simple Syrup saves you making your own. Some older cosmo recipes also add a splash of Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice, the original lime cordial, alongside fresh lime; if you try it, drop the syrup.

A few cranberry tips worth knowing:

• Check the label. "Cranberry juice cocktail" and "cranberry juice blend" are sweetened and often mixed with other fruit juices. "100% cranberry juice" or "unsweetened" is the tart one.
• Keep it cold. Store the cranberry in the fridge, not the pantry. Starting with cold ingredients means less dilution in the shaker.
• Don't overpour. A cosmo should be pale pink to light red, not the color of a juice box. If it's dark, there's too much cranberry.

White cranberry juice makes a pale "white cosmo," which is pretty and a little more floral. Tost Sparkling White Tea, with white tea, white cranberry and ginger, is dry and grown-up, and it makes an excellent sparkling topper for one.

This is our house cosmo: Grove 42 for dryness and citrus, Dhōs for orange, cranberry for color and lime for brightness.

If you like it sweeter, go up to a quarter-ounce of syrup. If it tastes too much like juice, cut the cranberry to three-quarters of an ounce and add an extra squeeze of lime. For a more classic vodka cosmo, swap the Grove 42 for Clean V.

If you prefer a rounder, fruitier cosmo, this is the one. Pink London's red berries mean you can cut the cranberry back and use the unsweetened kind, and Lyre's Orange Sec brings enough sweetness that you don't need syrup.

The white cosmopolitan swaps red cranberry for white cranberry juice and usually adds a splash of something sparkling. It's lighter, paler and a little more floral than the classic, and it's a good choice for a party where a red drink feels too heavy. Our version tops it with Tost, whose white tea and ginger give the finish some grip.

If you don't have Tost, a splash of dry sparkling wine or plain soda does the same job with less flavor.

Everyone's cosmo is a little different. Here's how to push it either way.

• For a tart cosmo: use unsweetened cranberry, a full half-ounce of lime and no extra syrup. Dhōs has no sugar, so the drink stays sharp.
• For a sweeter cosmo: use cranberry juice cocktail and Lyre's Orange Sec in place of Dhōs. Garnish with an orange twist for aroma.
• For more body: add a pinch of salt and shake with a single large ice cube plus a few small ones for a longer, harder shake.
• For more orange: flame the peel. Hold a strip of orange peel skin-side down over the glass, warm it for a second with a match, then squeeze. The oils flash and caramelize on the surface.

Making cosmos for a crowd

Cosmos batch well. Mix the spirit, orange liqueur, cranberry and lime in a jug at the same ratio as the recipe, add about a fifth of the volume in cold water to stand in for the dilution you'd get from shaking, and chill it for an hour. Pour straight into chilled coupes and twist an orange peel over each one. Squeeze the lime no more than a few hours ahead, or it starts to taste dull.

Here's how the bottles we'd use for a cosmopolitan compare. The table pulls live ratings from around the web; see each bottle's page for sources.

• Margarita. Swap the base for a tequila alternative, drop the cranberry and add salt. Dhōs Orange and Lyre's Orange Sec both work here too.
• Martini. The cosmo is served in a martini glass, but the real martini is stirred, dry and very different.
• Espresso Martini. The other popular "martini" that isn't really one, and one of the easiest to make without alcohol.
• Paloma. Tart and pink, with grapefruit in place of cranberry. If you like the cosmo's sharpness, try it.

The cosmopolitan is back on menus, and many zero-proof lists now include one. A few bars worth visiting: