Mary Pickford Cocktail Recipe
White rum, pineapple juice, grenadine and maraschino — a soft pink Havana classic from the silent-film years.
- Category: The Unforgettables
- Glass: Coupe glass
- ABV: 17%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- White rum60 ml (2 oz)
- Pineapple juice60 ml (2 oz)
- Grenadine10 ml (0.3 oz)
- Maraschino liqueur5 ml (0.2 oz)
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice.
- Shake until well chilled.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
- Garnish with a cherry.
Garnish
Maraschino cherry
What it tastes like
The sweetness is pronounced, fruit notes come forward and there is pineapple and passion fruit in it.
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 stemmed, shallow coupe. The stem keeps your hand's warmth away from the drink, and the wide bowl carries the aroma to your nose. Served without ice.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- White rum
- The Cuban style is light and dry, the Puerto Rican a little rounder. It is the base of the mojito and the daiquiri; swap in gold rum and the drink turns sweeter.
- Pineapple juice
- Pineapple juice. It foams on its own when shaken — that creamy head on a tiki drink comes from the pineapple, not from egg white.
- Grenadine
- Pomegranate syrup. Most supermarket bottles are dyed corn syrup with no pomegranate in them; reducing pomegranate juice with an equal weight of sugar takes ten minutes and changes the drink completely.
- Maraschino liqueur
- A clear liqueur made from marasca cherries. It has nothing to do with the red jarred cocktail cherry — it smells of almond kernel and flowers, and it is dry, not sweet.
The Story
Mixed for the actress in 1920s Havana, where American film stars drank through Prohibition at the Hotel Sevilla.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Mary Pickford mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a coupe.
- How strong is a Mary Pickford?
- Roughly 17% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Mary Pickford 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 Pickford hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.