Named after the famous silent movie actress, the Mary Pickford Cocktail is a classic rum-based slow sipper from the Prohibition-era.
Mary Pickford Cocktail – Photo © Cocktails & Bars
Who is Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-American film actress and producer, and one of the most popular actresses of the 1910s and 1920s during the silent film era. Dubbed as “the girl with the curls”, she has received many accolades and was awarded the second Academy Award for Best Actress for her first sound film role in Coquette (1929).
The Cocktail
The Mary Pickford is a classic, Prohibition-era cocktail with unclear origins. It is sometimes attributed to Eddie Woelke, the creator of El Presidente cocktail, and at times, Fred Kaufman, head barman at the Sevilla Hotel. The rum-based drink consists of equal parts white rum and fresh pineapple juice with a touch of grenadine and Maraschino liqueur. It may sseem too sweet by today’s standards but the ratios are known to vary.
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The specs in Henry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book call for equal parts rum and pineapple juice:
1/2 Rum
1/2 Pineapple Juice
1 teaspoonful Grenadine
6 Drops Maraschino
Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s Guide favours more rum:
1 1/2 oz. light rum
3/4 oz. pineapple juice
1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz. grenadine
Melbourne’s 18o6 Limited First Edition Cocktail Book goes as far as muddling the pineapple and using egg white:
40ml Bacardi 8
3 chunks pineapple
5ml Maraschino Liqueur
10ml house grenadine
15 ml egg white
Muddle pineapple, dry shake, shake, strain.
The cocktail may be on the fruity and sweet end of the flavour spectrum, and as such, it benefits from using fresh pineapple juice which is not as sweet and adds a tart/acidic note to balance some of the sweetness. If using store-bought pineapple juice, choose an unsweetened variety as some come laden with extra sugar.
Mary Pickford Cocktail Recipe
Ingredients
- 45ml white rum
- 20ml pineapple juice, freshly squeezed
- 5ml grenadine (we used home-made grenadine)
- 1 barspoon of Maraschino Liqueur
Glassware: cocktail glass
Garnish: brandied cherry
Method
In a cocktail shaker, add the white rum, pineapple juice, grenadine and Maraschino Liqueur. Add ice cubes and shake hard until cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a brandied cherry.
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