Servings: 1
Time: Under 3 minutes
Difficulty: Lighthearted
🍹 Ingredients
- 2 oz. white rum (Cuban style if possible)
- 1.5 oz. fresh pineapple juice
- 0.25 oz. maraschino liqueur
- A dash (about 0.25 oz.) of grenadine
🥂 Instructions
Add the rum, pineapple juice, maraschino liqueur, and grenadine to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake briskly until the mixture turns frothy and cold.
Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
Garnish as you like to match the moment:
🍍 A small pineapple wedge for a sunny touch
🍒 A Maraschino cherry for sweet elegance
🌺 A tiny edible flower if you want stage presence worthy of the Golden Age of Cinema
🎬 A Starlet in a Glass
The Mary Pickford is more than a cocktail; it’s a piece of Hollywood history. Born in the glamorous 1920s Havana bar scene and named after the Canadian-born silent film star, it balances rum’s warmth with pineapple’s brightness and a delicate hint of cherry almond from maraschino. The splash of grenadine paints the drink a soft blush: romantic, theatrical, and show-stopping.
It tastes like tropical sunshine poured into a coupe, carrying with it the golden glimmer of old Hollywood, when stars drank rum under Caribbean skies and art deco glamour was at its peak.
💡 Tip for Star Quality
Use fresh pineapple juice if you can. It gives the cocktail its frothy crown and vivid tropical sweetness. Bottled juice works, but nothing captures that cinematic flair quite like the real thing.
🌴 Perfect Setting
The Mary Pickford shines brightest at golden hour, when day slips into night. Picture it on a sun-dappled balcony, at a garden party with friends, or as the opening act to an elegant dinner. Like its namesake, it’s both approachable and luminous. Just the right drink to toast a moment with style. Cheers!
🍸 Havana’s 1920s Cocktail Culture
In the 1920s, Havana was the glittering playground of the Americas. With Prohibition in full swing in the United States, Cuba became an irresistible escape for thirsty travelers, celebrities, and socialites. The city’s bars thrummed with jazz, the clink of ice, and the hum of Cuban rum culture hitting its stride.
Bartenders at legendary spots like El Floridita and the Hotel Nacional crafted cocktails that defined the era: light, vibrant, and laced with tropical fruit. It was here that the Mary Pickford was born, reportedly created for the silent film star during a visit with Douglas Fairbanks. The drink captured the spirit of Havana nights: cosmopolitan yet playful, elegant yet delightfully tropical.
Havana’s bars weren’t just watering holes; they were stages where glamour and invention met. Today, when you sip a Mary Pickford, you’re not just tasting rum and pineapple; you’re touching a moment in history, when cocktails became cultural icons.
Cocktail image by Will Shenton.
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