Aubrey Plaza Would Like to Drink a Cosmo With Patti LuPone

Aubrey Plaza likes a good cosmopolitan. The presentation doesn’t matter much — “I like a goblet,” she admits — but the recipe does: vodka, cranberry, lime, and specifically, Cointreau. As the face of the brand’s new Keep it Cosmo campaign, Plaza joins Contreau and Toby Cecchini, the inventor of the cosmo, in suggesting that we think pink for this year’s holiday fêtes.

“I don’t get too fancy with it, and I like the old-school iconic drinks,” Plaza says. “I like the margarita. I like the cosmopolitan. The ingredients are just refreshing. It’s a really simple crowd-pleaser.”

“Did Sex and the City invent the cosmopolitan?” shows up when anyone types the cocktail’s name into a search bar, and alongside the iconic HBO show, the cocktail has become a stand-in for unapologetic and flirtatious femininity. It’s a cross-generational crowd-pleaser. It reigned as the sophisticate’s drink of choice in 1980s NYC and popped off again in the aughts during SATC’s time on television — and now, it’s back to party.

“When I invented The Cosmopolitan in the autumn of 1988, I was trying to find way to make a super fun, grabby drink with fresh juice and top-notch ingredients,” says Toby Cecchini, inventor of the cosmopolitan. “A simple mix of vodka, fresh lime and cranberry all corralled and elevated by the unique orange notes of Cointreau. It was the work of experimenting for 15 minutes and has been going strong now for 35 years and counting.”

This month, Plaza makes her stage debut in the off-Broadway revival of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, which first premiered in 1983. A two-person play written by John Patrick Shanley, it tells a desperate, explosive love story, and Plaza stars opposite Christopher Abbott, whom she met four years ago on the set of Black Bear (he was also on Girls).

Read on for more on Plaza’s new cocktail campaign, how she’s prepping for her very first theater role, and who she’d love to have a cosmo with in New York City.