Mainbrace | Cocktail Party

Mainbrace

The Mainbrace is a lovely, simple sour with a muddy origin story. We first found it in Difford’s Guide, calling for grapefruit juice – but we found other versions, like the recipe in Mr. Boston’s, calling for grape juice instead. Which one was right?

We turned to historical precedence to solve the mystery. A mainbrace, in naval lingo, was a heavy piece of rigging critical to the steering of the ship. Repairing it in an emergency was one of the most difficult jobs the crew could undertake, and after completion it was customary to award the crew with an extra ration of spirits.

Naval history doesn’t have much to say about the presence of grapes on ships, but citrus was a must-have for crews on long voyages, as the Vitamin C they contain was known to prevent scurvy. So we hew to history, and make our Mainbraces with a healthy serving of grapefruit juice.

Ingredients

Instructions

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a small, chilled cocktail or coupe glass. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Cocktail Party app on tablets and phones

Get the App

The Cocktail Party app puts this drink – and hundreds more – in your pocket, and tells you what you can make from the ingredients you have at home. It's the best $3.99 you'll ever spend on a drink.

Read more

Really Good App

We downloaded the app after seeing it as one of the top posts on /r/cocktails, and we've been playing around with it and adding our ingredients to the list. While it's not an all inclusive list of ingredients (missing some creme de ), it's a solid overall app and tosses out some truly spectacular recipes based on what you have in your liquor cabinet. Minor quibbles for an otherwise fantastic application!
US JCorduroy, iTunes App Store