Name: Melba Cocktail
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Light white rum; 22.5 ml Swedish Punsch; 15 ml Lime juice; 5 ml Grenadine syrup; 2.5 ml Absinthe; 10 ml Chilled water

Melba Cocktail
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Photographed in a LSA Olivia Champagne Saucer

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ oz	Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old)
³⁄₄ oz	Swedish Punsch liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup
¹⁄₁₂ oz	La Fée Parisienne absinthe
¹⁄₃ oz	Chilled water

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
Prepare garnish of float mint leaf or peg to rim.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

23rd March 2025 is Melba Toast Day

Review:

This would be better named, "Melba Daiquiri", as it is a Swedish punsch, absinthe, and grenadine influenced Daiquiri. I've dramatically changed the equal parts rum and Swedish punsch specified in The Savoy Cocktail Book original, and upped the grenadine, but hopefully for the better.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Peack Melba Cocktail

History:

Adapted from a recipe in Harry Craddock's 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book.

MELBA COCKTAIL.
2 Dashes Grenadine.
2 Dashes Absinthe.
The juice of ¼ lemon or ½ lime.
½ Glass Bacardi Rum.
½ Glass Swedish Punch.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Harry Craddock, 1930

Created in honour of Dame Nellie Melba, the stage name of famous Australian operatic soprano, Helen Porter Mitchell (1861–1931). Her adopted name Melba is short for the city where she first performed aged just six at a concert in the Melbourne Town Hall. Her first professional performance, aged 23, was at a benefit concert also in Melbourne. She performed regularly at London's Covent Garden, a short walk from The Savoy.

In 1918, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and such was Dame Melba's popularity that, as well as to this cocktail, her name was attached to the Peach Melba dessert and Melba toast, patented in 1929 by Bert Weil.

Nutrition:

One serving of Melba Cocktail contains 184 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
19.29% alc./vol. (19.29° proof)
20.2 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Jason Edward CLAPHAM

23rd March 2022 at 17:05

Fun fact: this drink was created in honour of Nellie Melba, the stage name adopted by Australian operatic soprano Helen Porter Mitchell (1861–1931). Melba is actually short from Melbourne, where she made her debut.

Simon Difford

24th March 2022 at 16:27

Indeed a fun fact. I've taken the liberty of embellishing the origin above. Many thanks.

John Hinojos

12th March 2022 at 04:14

On first sip, it seems a nice little cocktail, but it has a burst of flavours. It definitely benefits from breathing. I found it a tad sweet, but OK as a night cap. We did use an overproof rum to help tone down the sweetness. Maybe use a dash of pomegranate juice instead of the grenadine? Tried adding 4 drop of orange bitters. Helped a little.