Recipe: Tribute Cocktail for the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra Straight Up Cocktails and Spirits

Nora Maynard
Nora Maynard
Nora Maynard is a freelance writer based in New York City. Her recent work has appeared in Salon, Drunken Boat, and The Millions. She recently completed her ninth marathon and her first novel, Burnt Hill Road. Nora wrote for The Kitchn from 2006 to 2011.
updated Jun 5, 2019
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Credit: Apartment Therapy

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TGIF: Thank goodness I’ve fangs.” –Bronx Zoo’s Cobra

If anyone deserves a drink this weekend, it’s the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra. Allow me to explain.

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CobraStyle: A cocktail created in honor of the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra. (Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The freedom-loving reptile became an instant celebrity when she escaped from the Bronx Zoo in late March. Tweeting as @BronxZoosCobra, she kept her followers entertained with witty reports of her exploits around New York City before she was finally apprehended and returned to her high-security enclosure six days later.

But even in captivity the Twitter updates continue – and so does the hopeful scheming: “A great cake recipe: 2 cups sugar, 4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 2 cups self-rising flour, 1 saw, 1 stick butter. And mix. Bring it by the zoo,” she tweeted the day after she was caught.

And then, just yesterday, she seemed to develop a bit of a thirst: “Happy Cinco de Mayo! I could really go for a Skinnygirl Margarita. No salt, please. I don’t want to look bloated.”

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

On my husband’s suggestion (he’s been patiently listening to me quote the cobra for several weeks now), I set out to design a cocktail in honor of the glamorous snake. I figured it should be something with a little bite, suitable for sipping while sunning oneself on a rock.

But where to start? Well, we now know that the cobra likes Margaritas. So what about one with a little bit of a Bronx Zoo twist? There’s an an old-timey drink on the books called the

Bronx

Using both the

Bronx

Margarita (tequila, triple sec, lime juice) as freeform inspiration, I shook up a tequila-based drink mixed with orange juice and small measures of red (
grenadine swapped out for the Bronx’s red vermouth) and white (lime juice swapped out for the Bronx’s white vermouth) ingredients.

One last thing: the drink needed a garnish. A sinuously snaking strip of lime peel seemed like the perfect touch.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
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CobraStyle Cocktail

Makes one drink

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ounces

    tequila (I used a blanco)

  • 1/4 ounce

    grenadine

  • 1/2 ounce

    orange juice

  • 1/4 ounce

    lime juice

Instructions

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  1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a long, twisting strip of lime peel.

Do you have any other ssssweet drink recommendations for the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra? Has anything/anyone ever inspired you to create your own cocktail?

Nora Maynard is a longtime home mixologist and an occasional instructor at NYC’s Astor Center. She is a contributor to The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and is the recipient of the American Egg Board Fellowship in culinary writing at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. She previously covered food and drink in film at The Kitchn in her weekly column, The Celluloid Pantry.

Related: All About Margaritas

Further Reading:

(Images: BronxZoosCobra via Twitter; all others Nora Maynard)

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Beverages
Cocktails