Brazil’s 1980s Classic Cocktail, the Maria Mole, Stages a Return

In every menu he works on, São Paulo–born bartender Diogo Sevilio finds room for the Maria Mole. A popular drink once beloved in bars across Brazil, the cocktail fell out of favor with the rise of craft cocktails in the country, quickly overshadowed by dry Martinis and Negronis. But Sevilio wants to revive its reputation.

“I always include [Maria Mole] in my menus as a form of resistance,” Sevilio says. According to him, the drink—like other historically popular cocktails in Brazil, such as the Rabo de Galo—was sidelined due to what he describes as “pure prejudice” against accessible, inexpensive recipes. As upscale bars took Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo by storm, these drinks “came to be seen as lower in quality, which is not necessarily true,” he says.

The base of the Brazilian classic is an affordable sugarcane distillate from the brand Dreher, which was founded in 1910. The spirit is similar to the more ubiquitous cachaça, but it’s flavored with ginger and oak, lending it more sweetness. In the 1980s, the distillate became known as the “Brazilian Cognac,” eventually dominating bar counters and liquor store shelves across the country. Its reputation can be attributed to a viral advertising campaign that suggested mixing the spirit with vermouth, cementing the brand in the minds and mouths of Brazilians. That drink was the Maria Mole. 

The cocktail’s inspiration is a traditional Brazilian dessert of the same name; made from gelatin and sugar, it’s known for its light, spongy texture. The term “Maria mole” can also refer to something soft or without structure, which likely influenced the cocktail’s name, reflecting its smooth and velvety texture.

Over the years, bartenders have come back to some of these relics of the past with fresh eyes. 

“For me, like many bartenders, having a drink was always an investment; it was never part of my lifestyle because it wasn’t something I could easily afford,” says Sevilio. In the early 2000s, he began frequenting botecos (less expensive, no-frills bars, like the Brazilian version of a dive) and took inspiration from the popular throwback cocktails, like the Maria Mole, that were being served.

Sevilio is not the only bartender reintroducing the Maria Mole to guests at higher-end cocktail bars and restaurants. At Aiô, a Taiwanese restaurant with a serious bar program in São Paulo, bartender Maurício Barbosa serves his own take on the cocktail while honoring its roots. He describes the drink as “a historically marginalized cocktail.”

Barbosa’s version of the beloved classic introduces the wine-based Osborne brandy—“a drink closer to Cognac,” as he puts it—alongside vermouth (he uses both bianco and dry), cocoa bitters, dark chocolate and a drop of saline solution. At Suru Bar in Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, bartender Igor Renovato still uses Dreher and the typical bianco vermouth, but he adds a dash of Amaro Bianco from the San Basile distillery. He notes that some customers request their Maria Mole made with sherry brandy, “which gives the drink an elegant twist.” 

At São Paulo’s Pindura Bar, meanwhile, Sevilio swaps the typical brandy for Cognac, but, staying true to boteco traditions, keeps it to just two ingredients—he uses bianco vermouth—diluted over ice and finished with an orange twist. 

But whether the bartenders lean into the dessert-like nature of the drink, its simplicity or both, they’re dedicated to keeping the Maria Mole alive. “Our job as bartenders isn’t just mastering the classics,” says Barbosa. “It’s about elevating what’s ours.”