Mary Celeste Recipe
Mezcal and Campari shaken with lime and orgeat — smoke and bitterness up front, rounded off by a soft almond sweetness.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Old fashioned glass
- ABV: 19%
- Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- Mezcal45 ml (1.5 oz)
- Campari22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Fresh lime juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Orgeat syrup15 ml (0.5 oz)
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice.
- Shake hard until well chilled.
- Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
- Garnish with a dehydrated lemon wheel.
Garnish
Dehydrated lemon wheel
What it tastes like
It has a bitter backbone, the citrus acidity leads and smoke dominates the nose.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A heavy-bottomed, wide old fashioned glass. Wide enough for one large cube, which is the point: a big cube has less surface area, so the drink gets cold without getting watery.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Mezcal
- The Mexican spirit whose smoke comes from roasting the agave in a stone pit. It can stand in for tequila, but the smoke walks over everything else; starting half and half is the balanced move.
- Campari
- The red Italian bitter, with a bitterness that is unmistakable. Aperol can replace it, but Aperol is half the strength and clearly sweeter, so the drink comes out softer.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Orgeat syrup
- Almond syrup with orange flower water in it — the signature of a Mai Tai. Without it, sweetened almond milk plus a drop of almond extract gets you close.
The Story
A contemporary American bar drink in the bitter-sour family, where Campari and orgeat are paired the way tiki drinks pair rum and almond; it shares its name with the famous ghost ship.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Mary Celeste mixed?
- It is shaken and served in an old fashioned glass.
- How strong is a Mary Celeste?
- Roughly 19% ABV as served — in fortified-wine territory — plan it as a single drink.
- Can a Mary Celeste be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Mary Celeste hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
759 recipes in your pocket
Cocktails and mocktails from 55 countries — ingredients, steps and the story behind each drink. Works offline too.
Similar recipes
Collections
Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.