Cosmopolitan (low-calorie)

The Cosmopolitan's origin is disputed among several bartenders. Wikipedia and other sources trace competing claims: some credit Cheryl Cook, a bartender at The Strand in South Beach, Miami, who is said to have created it around 1985 or 1986; others credit Neal Murray, who claimed to have added cranberry juice to a Kamikaze at a Minneapolis steakhouse in 1975; and John Caine is credited with carrying a similar pink, cranberry-based drink from Provincetown to San Francisco's gay bars in the 1980s. The internationally known version, built with citron vodka, Cointreau, fresh lime juice, and cranberry juice, is most often credited to Toby Cecchini, working with Melissa Huffsmith-Roth at The Odeon restaurant in Manhattan around 1988-1989, reworking a cruder rail-vodka, Rose's lime, and grenadine drink that had reached New York from San Francisco. Dale DeGroff later popularized his own citron-vodka rendition at the Rainbow Room in the 1990s, adding a flamed orange peel garnish, and the drink's fame was cemented after Madonna was photographed drinking one and after its recurring appearances on Sex and the City. This low-calorie variation follows that same lineage, differing only in that it replaces part of the traditional triple sec and sweetened cranberry juice with a sugar-free sweetener to lighten the drink's calorie content.