Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Cosmos, in quantity

I volunteered at a high school function on Sunday.  I actually had a great time. I got to bar-tend. I also got to learn how to make Cosmos in large quantities. I think we ended up with 9 gallons.
The recipe is simple:
1 part vodka
1 part cranberry juice
1/2 part triple sec
1/4 part lime juice
Mix. Shake with ice and pour. Best if poured over a lime section, squeezed.

To make in quantity, dump 4-1.75 liter bottles of Vodka in one of those 5 gallon gatorade coolers that high school sports teams use.  Dump in 2-1.75 liter bottles of triple sec.  Measure out 7 liters of cranberry juice. Dump that in. The cranberry juice didn't come in 1.75 liter containers, it came in imperial measurements, thus requiring measurements.  Add 1.75 liters fresh lime juice.  Thankfully Odwalla donated some real good lime juice!

To ensure mixing, siphon off some of the mixture into the largest container that is available, such as an empty cranberry juice container.  When siphoning out the second bit, pour in the first container. Repeat several times, until the mixture looks well combined.  Taste.  Adjust as necessary.

Now add 2 of the 1.75 liter vodka bottles to another, smaller cooler with a spigot.  Add 1 bottle of 1.75liter triple sec.  Add 3.5 liter of cranberry.  Add about 900 ml of lime.  Mix as before. Taste. Adjust amounts to your liking.

Funny, each batch, although made to the same specs, tasted slightly different. To one we added about 500 ml more triple sec. To another a tad more lime.  We kept mixing in smaller and smaller containers until there was no liquor of the critical type remaining.  I believe we finished mixing 7 of those large bottles Vodka, and the ingredients to go with that.

I served white wine, several different red wines, 4 different beers, sparkling water, and shaken cosmos all evening long. I got to take a gallon (I *think* it was a gallon; it was a cranberry juice sized container) of the cosmo mixture home at the end of the night, as it was left over.  I know 7 cases of sparkling water were gone through, many bottles of wine, and beer were also consumed.

I'd say a good time was had by all, especially since the liquor was all open bar, since the cost was covered by the ticket sales. The tip jar apparently made enough to cover the costs of the liquor!

Anyone need 9 gallons of cosmos mixed up?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feel free to comment.