Mary Pickford Cocktail

This Mary Pickford Cocktail recipe is a rum-based cocktail but full of cherry flavor. It yields a deliciously balanced and sweet cocktail that will have you looking into the forgotten cocktails of the Prohibition Era. This drink is sweet and refreshing and is as beautiful as a summer day and the actress it was named after.

An Updated Classic

I've updated this recipe to reflect what I feel most people have in their home bars. While the original recipe calls for Maraschino Cherry Liqueur, I have a feeling that most people would see that item and say, "well, I guess I'm not making this."

And yes, I have owned a number of cocktail recipe books only to get rid of them because of the ingredient lists. So, in order to make this recipe, I've kept things very simple to bar staples that could be found in just about any home.

So to get that familiar cherry flavor, I've muddled cherries to infuse that familiar flavor. It's an easy workaround to make this cocktail more accessible especially if you don't have an extensive home bar.

Plus, I've toned down the strong taste of the original. My aim here is to provide drinks that are balanced, if you like a stronger drink, then see my tips for making this to modify it.

History of the Mary Pickford Cocktail

This cocktail is named after the 1920s silent movie era star Mary Pickford. During the 1920s in the US was a time of Prohibition. Which also, ironically, gave us some of our most iconic cocktails (Gin Rickeys, Old Fashioned, French 75, and Sidecars to name a few). Many of which are mixed drinks to bury the low-quality alcohol that did make it to market or your local speakeasy.

But this cocktail had its foundation in Cuba, which was a tourist destination for many Americans in the 1920s.

The Mary Pickford Cocktail was created by Fred Kaufman at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in honor of a visit from Douglas Fairbanks and his wife, Mary Pickford. Unlike other cocktails that are named after female celebrities like say the Shirley Temple, this one is alcoholic and can be made strong.

Since its creation was in Cuba it shouldn't be surprising at all that this was a rum-based cocktail. The recipe later appeared in cocktail books attributing the cocktail to Fred Kaufman in 1928 in a book called When It's Cocktail Time in Cuba.

Tips for Making This

Here are my best tips for making this drink:

• Always use high-quality ice when making a cocktail
• You can use Maraschino cherries or Maraschino Cherry Liqueur if you have it
• You can use white rum or gold rum in this recipe, however, skip the dark rums or aged rums as they don't lend a great flavor here.
• If you shake this enough, it will develop a foamy-like head to the drink.

Variations of this Cocktail

The best cocktail is the one that tastes delicious to you. Here are some suggestions on how to vary this cocktail:

• For a less sweet drink, omit a splash of grenadine or reduce the amount of pineapple juice
• For a stronger drink, add more rum or reduce the amount of pineapple juice
• For a different flavor profile, use coconut rum instead.

How to Make a Mary Pickford Cocktail

Step 1: In a cocktail shaker add 3 cherries. Muddle.

Step 2: Add rum, pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine to the cocktail shaker now filled with ice.

Step 3: Strain and pour into a glass.

Step 4: Garnish with some Maraschino, Luxardo, or Amarena Cherries and enjoy!

Other Fruity Cocktails You Might Enjoy

Greyhound Cocktail (grapefruit)

Madras Cocktail (cranberry and orange)

Malibu Bay Breeze (cranberry and pineapple)

Matador Cocktail (pineapple)

Vodka Gimlet (lime)

I hope you enjoy this Mary Pickford Drink recipe!

If you try this, would you mind hitting the “Rate” button? I’d love to know what you thought of it. If you modified the original recipe here, please let me know how it turned out. I love comments!

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