Mary Pickford (a.k.a. Mary’s Daiquiri)

The Story Behind The Mary Pickford (a.k.a. Mary's Daiquiri)

When thinking of flavors that scream “holiday season,” ingredients like peppermint, gingerbread, cinnamon, and nutmeg most often come to mind. But if you ask Garret Richard, chief cocktail officer for Brooklyn’s Sunken Harbor Club, what he’s incorporating in his holiday cocktails, the answer might surprise you: grenadine. Pomegranate, as he argues, has a profile that perfectly complements many of the flavors we associate with the holidays, like the aforementioned spices, as well as orchard fruits and aged spirits.

In this souped-up Daiquiri, Richard pairs grenadine with dark, aged rum and a splash of maraschino liqueur. To strike the perfect balance, the recipe deploys acid-adjusted pineapple juice, a tablespoon of gum syrup, and a few drops of saline solution. (While this final ingredient may seem like an unnecessary step, adding a bit of salt to cocktails tends to soften the edges of the more acidic and boozier ingredients.) It’s a multi-step process, but it's one that is well worth the effort.