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Shirley Temple
Ginger ale, grenadine, and a cherry — the original mocktail, still undefeated at any age.
How to order it: Real grenadine (pomegranate) elevates it from kids' table to cocktail hour.
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The recipe
- 4 oz ginger ale
- ½ oz real grenadine (pomegranate)
- Build over ice; stir once
- Tall glass
- Two cherries — you've earned them
The story
The Shirley Temple was invented in 1930s Hollywood, named for the era's biggest child star — though which restaurant deserves credit is, fittingly, contested, with Chasen's and the Brown Derby among the claimants. The formula was pure showbiz: ginger ale, a flash of grenadine, a maraschino cherry, and the suggestion that the smallest guest at the table deserved a cocktail moment too. Temple herself reportedly found the drink too sweet and later fought the commercial use of her name on bottled versions. No matter — the drink long ago outgrew her. It established the radical idea underneath every mocktail since: that ceremony, not alcohol, is what makes a drink feel like an occasion worth dressing for.
Adjacent pours