Explosive Episode 50 Cosmopolitan

Nov 28

Setting the record straight with Neal Murray (the real inventor)

Welcome to Season 4 episode 50 of The Art of Drinking with Join Jules and Your Favorite Uncle

We need to right a terrible wrong. The world needs to know that Neal Murray is the true inventor of the Cosmopolitan - full stop. Don’t believe what you’ve been told by others, we get the straight scoop in our interview with Neal. Listen in as he walks us through the history behind this iconic drink, how it got its name, how it became so popular, and a few other fascinating stories. Neal even walks Uncle Brad through how to make a proper Cosmopolitan. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this episode. Please listen and please share his story. Let the truth be told!

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Get Neal Murray's Cosmo recipe here

Meet Neal Murray, the original creator of the Cosmo

“Well, it was 1975. I was a student at the University of Minnesota, and I believe at the time I was driving a school bus to make money while I was going to school. But an old college friend, an old college roommate, said to me that he wanted to give me his job attending bar at the Cork and Cleaver in Golden Valley, Minnesota. I thought that was a great idea. I'd never been a bartender before, but I catch on pretty quickly. So I went out to have an interview with the managers there, and I thought I did a great job of presenting myself. My ex-rommate called me back and said, well, geez, Neil, they're not going to hire you. And I'm like, oh, really, why? And he says, well, and he paused. And then he said, it's because you're black. And then frankly, we both laughed because I grew up in Roseville, Minnesota. And I was so disappointed that they thought that I was not the person they wanted. But a couple of days, maybe a week later, the bookkeeper calls me and says, you know, I'm so upset and embarrassed and ashamed of what they said and did that they're going away to Fargo for a wedding for four days. And I'm going to be in charge. And I want to hire you. And I want to know if you want the job. Well, I still wanted the job. I can handle the heat. So I studied the Boston Book of Drinks for three days. I had three days behind the bar.

But that I got used to and on the fifth day, the manager came back and I was working the lunch shift. He walked up to the bar to see who his new bartender was. He was very excited to see. You could tell he was excited and then he sees me and he spun around on his heel and went back to his office and I never saw him the rest of the day. That was the beginning of my introduction to being a bartender at this restaurant.

So back then, the vodka gimlet was a popular drink. That was just vodka and roses lime juice on the rocks with a squeeze of lime and maybe a lime on the rim.

In Minnesota, they added filberts to that drink, which I thought was curious. No, they don't do that elsewhere, but in Minnesota they did. And then someone came along and put triple sec into the drink and shook it and served it as a shooter. And so the kamikaze was popular with the younger, set that came into the bar, and the vodka gillin was popular with the older set. Well one day I'm looking at the Cape Cod and I'm thinking, geez, that's vodka cranberry with a squeeze of lime. Instead of putting the lime in the cranberry, why don't I put the cranberry in the lime, I thought. So I decided to put a splash of cranberry into the kamikaze and I put this pink-looking martini up on the bar.

And the regular customer, who was right there by the well, says to me, geez Neil, what's that? Now this customer knew the story, he was a regular, so he knew the story about how I got hired because a few regulars knew that story. And I said to him, uh, I don't know, it's a kamikaze with a splash of cranberry, you know, I thought it needed a little bit of color. Frankly, making a joke about me being a little bit of color at the Cork and Cleaver, and apparently, this customer caught on to that. And said, oh, how cosmopolitan? I'm like, okay, that's what we'll call it then, and that's how the drink got its name.

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