Shirley Temple, the Ginger Ale and Grenadine Drink
Reader ratingsGinger ale over ice, a spoonful of grenadine sinking to the bottom and a maraschino cherry: a modern recipe for the Shirley Temple, with what is known of its history.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink
- Prep
- Total
A Shirley Temple in a highball glass: ginger ale over ice, red grenadine at the bottom and a maraschino cherry.
The story behind the recipe
A Shirley Temple is ginger ale with a splash of grenadine and a maraschino cherry, an alcohol-free drink named for the child film star of the 1930s. No printed recipe from that decade is known, so the recipe here is a modern one, for the drink as bars and restaurants make it now.
In her own words
The actress never claimed the drink. Shirley Temple Black once told Scott Simon of NPR that “those were created in the 1930s by the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood, and I had nothing to do with it,” as NPR recalled in 2014, the week she died. Chasen’s in Los Angeles, which credits its bartender Ray Buhen, and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu have their own versions of the story, yet nobody has produced a 1930s menu or recipe from the Derby or either rival. What children were given beside the grown-ups before and after her, from Victorian negus to the kiddie cocktail, is in A History of Kiddie Cocktails.
Read more about this recipe
Grenadine before the name
Grenadine was a soft drink well before anyone named a glass for a film star. It takes its name from grenade, French for pomegranate, and began as a syrup of pomegranate juice and sugar, which is how the home version in the Recipe notes below is made. Bertha E. L. Stockbridge’s What to Drink (1920), written for the hostess of the dry years, has a Grenadine Frappe of grenadine and a little lemon juice over shaved ice. TuneMyRecipe’s Clover Leaf Mocktail (opens in a new tab), from a 1920 book, shakes grenadine with orange juice and egg white.
Ginger ale had its own place in those books. Stockbridge’s punch of it is the Ginger Ale Punch for a Dry Party, one of the Five Alcohol-Free Drinks for a 1920s Party, and she poured it into lemonade and highballs as well.
Recipe makes: 1 drink
Ingredients
For 1 drink. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink.
- Ice cubes1 cup
- Ginger ale, chilled3/4 cup
- Grenadine1 tbsp
- Maraschino cherry1
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 3/4 cup ginger ale, chilled
- 1 tbsp grenadine
- 1 maraschino cherry
Equipment
Highball glass
Bar spoon
Instructions
Fill a highball glass with the ice cubes.
Pour in the cold ginger ale, leaving a little room at the top.
Spoon in the grenadine slowly; it is heavier than the ginger ale and sinks, settling in a red layer at the bottom.
Drop in the maraschino cherry and serve, with a spoon or straw for stirring the red through.
Nutrition
120calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for ginger ale, grenadine and a maraschino cherry, for one drink.
Recipe notes
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
Some versions use lemon-lime soda instead of ginger ale, or half of each; those are modern too.
For a pomegranate grenadine of your own, warm 1/2 cup pomegranate juice with 1/2 cup sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves, without boiling. Cool it and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Stockbridge’s 1920 Grenadine Frappe, for a glass: 4 tablespoons grenadine and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice over shaved ice.
Storage
Make it to order; the fizz fades once poured.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment.
Sources and attribution
Modern recipe; no printed period recipe is known. History from Shirley Temple Black’s interview with Scott Simon, as quoted by NPR (Eliza Barclay, February 11, 2014), and Bertha E. L. Stockbridge, What to Drink (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1920), p. 16
Recipe details
- Drink
- Alcohol-freeMocktail
- Drink family
- Sodas & Soft Drinks
- Region
- American
- Base
- Fruit & juice
- Difficulty
- Easy