At these outings, I have vivid memories of my trillion cousins and I inhaling countless glasses of the sugary drink (or at least as many as we could before our parents cut us off.) To this day, I still love the non-alcoholic drink and of course, the maraschino cherry that tops it off.
This past weekend, my roommates and I (for some reason I truly do not know), decided we were going to recreate an alcoholic form of the drink we all loved as a child. After carefully mixing ginger ale, vodka, and grenadine, it is safe to say we were on our way to quite the Saturday night.
Though I enjoyed the drink a great deal on Saturday night (maybe a little too much), the next morning I found myself bothered over the fact that I could not remember the exact connection between the name and the actress from the 1920s. Hence, the evolution of this particular blog post.
After googling both the actress and the drink recipe, what I learned was that the drink was originally intended to be non-alcoholic. It was created in Beverly Hills California in the 1930s by a bartender who worked at a restaurant named Chasen's. Shirley Temple (the actress) apparently frequented this restaurant and the bartender was determined to create a non-alcoholic drink the young star could enjoy.
In all honesty, I always knew that the drink was named for the actress but was never certain why exactly. Now that I know the origin, however, next time I will be sure to enjoy the cocktail (virgin or non-virgin) just a little bit more.
I LOVE Shirley Temple's. I still order them at restaurants, even though the waiter/waitress always give me a look of embarrassment, seeing as I am not 9 years old. I would take the non-alcoholic over the alcoholic any day!
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely delicious, but I have to agree with you-- nothing beats the original non-alcoholic!
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