missroserose | Does this mean that my mixology-snob license is revoked?

I've had a love-hate relationship with the Cosmopolitan for some time now. It's quickly become a "classic" drink, and I've made variations on it many a time before, but frankly it's just never appealed to me that much no matter how I tinker with the proportions. So I pretty much gave up on trying to come up with a "good" recipe for one.

However, when I went to a drag show recently with Philip, I saw people walking around with "Cosmopolitans" that were an oddly appealing crimson color (as opposed to the pinkish-cranberry color that most of my home concoctions possessed). Out of curiousity, I gave one a go, and was surprised at how much I liked it. It didn't taste at all like the ones I'd made, and frankly it didn't taste like there was a single natural ingredient in it, but I found myself liking it in spite of that - something about the shameless artificiality appealed to me, especially in a "trendy" drink.

I've tried a couple of times since then to replicate it, but hadn't had much luck - I figured they used some kind of from-concentrate cranberry juice as the base, but didn't have much interest in tracking down the ingredients. So the matter's been at rest until today, when I stopped at Fred Meyer for some tonic water, which happens to be located next to the drink mixes.

Hm, I found myself thinking, that Cosmopolitan mix looks like it's about the same color as that drink I had at the drag show.

And the lightbulb went on.

So now I'm not sure which makes me more sheepish: the fact that it took me this long to figure out that they used a mix at the bar, or the fact that I'm truly and honestly enjoying a drink made from a brazenly overprocessed maraschino-colored mix and Absolut Raspberri vodka.

ETA: Having finished the drink, I'm now not quite certain whether to be amused or slightly afraid that the lime wedge I tossed in is now stained bright red...