How do I make a Ruby like they drink in Sex and the City

A.
The new cocktail called the Ruby has been taking New York by storm since it was featured in a recent episode of Sex and the City in the US.

A Ruby is traditionally made from gin, grenadine and applejack, an American apple brandy, shaken and strained. Lots of food and drink websites offer a cocktail called the Ruby, created by Vanessa Bortnick of Harry Denton's Starlight Room, San Francisco. Her version calls for rhubarb-infused Finlandia with sugar syrup and fresh lime, again shaken and stirred.

But the Ruby Carrie, Samantha and the others are supposedly drinking is made with fresh grapefruit juice. The San Francisco Chronicle says the perfect Ruby should consist of:

6oz Florida ruby-red grapefruit juice, mixed with 3oz citrus vodka, shaken with ice, strained into a sugar-rimmed Martini glass and garnished with a slice of fresh grapefruit.

Q. Who created the cocktail

A. The drink was reportedly invented by the Florida Citrus Commission, and the publicity was so intense, they persuaded directors to feature the drink on Sex and the City as a replacement for the Cosmopolitans they usually drink.

The show's executive producer, Michael Patrick King, said they had been looking for a new drink on the show to replace Cosmopolitans. One of the key attractions for the producers was its colour.

A spokesperson for the television station HBO in the States has stated there are different recipes for the drink, but the most common one used is the mix of ruby-red grapefruit and Absolut Citron. In the States, it has become so popular, there's talk of "I Rubied out last night. I completely lost my Rubies".

Grapefruit is worth around $9 billion a year to the Florida state economy. Grapefruit juice sales are much lower than orange and there are huge editorial and promotional pushes on the new drink here and in the US.

A website devoted to the Ruby has even been created www.idrinkruby.com

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By Katharine MacColl