Rude Cosmopolitan

Cranberry juice is tart at the front and vanishes at the back, which is why the vodka version leans on lime and sugar to fill in. Agave leaves a long dry tail with a mineral edge that holds the fruit up after the swallow. You need less orange liqueur as a result, not more.

Too much orange liqueur against the cranberry, or a cranberry that turns out to be mostly apple and grape juice once you read the label. Thirty milliliters of a properly red one should do it. If it still looks washed out, take 5 ml off the triple sec.

In almost every bar, yes. The two names cover one build, and which appears on a menu is mostly a matter of house humor. A few places make theirs with reposado and a salt rim, so it's worth reading the description before you order.

Cut it before you cut anything else. At 15 ml the triple sec is mostly sugar plus a little peel, and blanco tequila is already supplying the aromatic interest vodka couldn't. Ten milliliters is plenty. Drop it entirely and you have a tequila and cranberry sour, which is a decent drink under another name.

A classic Rude Cosmopolitan calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Tequila, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Triple sec / Cointreau, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Fresh lime juice, 30 ml (1 oz) Cranberry juice. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Rude Cosmopolitan is roughly 23% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A Rude Cosmopolitan is shaken — the rule of thumb is to shake anything with citrus juice. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.