Maiden’s Prayer

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Cocktail History

The Maiden’s Prayer is a classic cocktail that was first published in American Bar: English & American Drink Recipes by Frank L. Newman. It’s traditionally made with gin, rum, orange liqueur, and Meyer lemon juice, and it was known as a “date-peeler” that would have been served to a young lady “on the edge of a couch,” hence its name.

Cocktail Ingredients

To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:

Gin: This is the base spirit. We went with Castle & Key Distillery’s Roots of Ruin Gin because it’s a smooth gin with notes of lemon verbena, ginger, citrus, chamomile, angelica, rosemary, and juniper.

White Rum: This is the base spirit. We used BACARDÍ Superior White Rum for its soft and sweet taste that pairs well with other ingredients without overpowering them.

Triple Sec: This is an orange liqueur. It adds sweet citrus flavors that balance out the other dry ingredients. We went with Cointreau because it’s one of the highest quality triple secs on the market.

Meyer Lemon Juice: This adds sweet and sour citrus flavors for balance. We prefer to use fresh citrus juice because it’s less bitter than the bottled stuff and tastes better. We couldn’t find Meyer lemons when we made this recipe, so we used regular lemons instead.

Lemon Twist or Lemon Blossom: This is the garnish. It adds more fresh lemon aroma.

Tasting Notes

Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: We both thought the the Maiden’s Prayer was really tasty. We’re partial to lemon drinks anyway, but the spirits in this one were balanced well by the citrus. Apparently it tastes best when you use Meyer lemons, but we didn’t have any and would use those if we made it again to see for ourselves.

Recipe

This cocktail recipe was adapted from The Art of Vintage Cocktails by Stephanie Rosenbaum.

Tools & Glassware We Recommend

More Citrus Cocktails

If you like this citrus-forward cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:

• Garibaldi: A low-proof cocktail made with orange juice, Campari, and an orange slice

• Nucleus Mimosa: A sparkling wine cocktail made with orange juice, cranberry juice, and a lime slice

• Gin & Sin: A gin cocktail made with orange juice, lemon juice, grenadine, and an orange twist

• Gimlet: A gin cocktail made with lime juice, simple syrup, and a lime wedge