Pornstar Martini
The Pornstar Martini was created by Douglas Ankrah at the Townhouse bar in Knightsbridge, London, in 2002, and became one of the most successful cocktail creations of the twenty-first century within a decade. Ankrah originally named it the Maverick Martini, after a bar he had visited in South Africa, and renamed it within months. It has ranked among the most ordered cocktails in the United Kingdom ever since. Vanilla vodka, passion fruit purée, passion fruit liqueur and fresh lime combine into a shaken sour with genuine complexity behind an accessible appearance. The signature serve pairs it with a shot of chilled Champagne alongside, and that two-part experience is as much a part of the drink’s identity as any single ingredient. Passion fruit defines it. Fresh fruit provides an aromatic complexity that neither purée nor liqueur replicates alone, and the canonical build uses both, plus half a fresh fruit floated on the surface.
Variations
Glassware: Nick & Nora Glass
Garnish: Passion Fruit
Ingredients
50ml
Stolichnaya Vanil is the original specification and the benchmark, with Absolut Vanilia a sound alternative. A neutral vodka with a few drops of pure vanilla extract substitutes acceptably.
20ml
Passoã is the widely available benchmark and what Ankrah specified, at 17% and calibrated for this drink. Do not substitute a generic tropical liqueur.
50ml
Commercial purées are reliable and consistent. The pulp of one fresh passion fruit strained through a coarse sieve is the premium option and produces a noticeably better drink.
10ml
One part sugar to one of warm water with a split vanilla pod steeped for two hours and strained. Neutral syrup with a few drops of vanilla extract substitutes acceptably.
50ml
Chilled and served in a separate shot glass alongside. A dry brut is correct; prosecco or cava substitute and produce a slightly softer result.
.5 piece
Cut in half and rested on the surface with the pulp facing upward. It provides the visual signature and additional aroma as the drink is consumed.
Instructions
Squeeze the lime juice immediately before building the drink.
Chill a martini glass and a small shot glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Add the vanilla vodka, passion fruit liqueur, purée, lime juice and vanilla syrup to a shaker with cubed ice.
Shake hard for 12 to 15 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled martini glass.
Rest half a fresh passion fruit on the surface, pulp and seeds facing upward.
Pour chilled Champagne into the shot glass and serve it alongside.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 13 August 2026.
Expert Tip
The Champagne shot is not optional if this is to be served correctly. Ankrah designed a two-part experience in which the Champagne acts as a palate reset between sips and the cocktail supplies the fruit character the wine does not carry. Serving the martini alone produces something that is technically the same recipe and experientially incomplete. Pour it immediately before the drink reaches the table so it is at its coldest and most carbonated for the first sip, because a Champagne shot that has been standing while the cocktail was shaken has already lost the point.
Behind the Pornstar Martini
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Douglas Ankrah founded the Townhouse in Knightsbridge in 2002 and created the drink during its opening months. Born in Ghana and trained across some of London’s most respected bars through the 1990s, he developed it after a visit to South Africa where he encountered a bar called Mavericks.
It was first the Maverick Martini in acknowledgement of that visit, and was renamed within a few months. The new name suited the drink’s tropical, fruit-forward character in a way the old one did not, and it generated conversation at every table, which is marketing no budget could replicate. By the mid-2010s it was consistently among the most ordered cocktails in the country.
The Passion Fruit Foundation
Ankrah’s canonical build uses three passion fruit elements, each doing something the others cannot: liqueur for structural sweetness and alcohol integration, purée for body and concentrated fruit character, and half a fresh fruit as garnish for aroma.
Passoã at 17% is the widely available benchmark and the product originally specified, distinctly passion fruit in character with additional tropical notes and a slight vanilla underneath. Commercial purées are reliable and consistent; fresh passion fruit strained through a coarse sieve produces the premium version at the cost of time and of consistency between drinks.
The Champagne Shot
The shot is one of the drink’s most structurally important elements and the one most commonly omitted, usually on the assumption that it is a flourish.
It is not. Ankrah designed a two-part experience: the Champagne acts as a palate reset between sips, and the cocktail supplies fruit character the wine does not carry. It can be sipped alongside or taken immediately after the cocktail is finished, and both are correct. What is not correct is serving the drink without it, because the shot is part of the drink rather than an accompaniment to it.
The Vanilla Vodka
The drink was created at the peak of vanilla vodka’s popularity, when the flavoured category was dominated by a handful of products, and it is one of the few cocktails from that moment to outlast the era entirely.
Contemporary bartenders often substitute vanilla infusions or vanilla syrup, and both are acceptable. The original calls for vanilla vodka because integrated vanilla gives a more coherent profile than vanilla added at service: the flavour sits inside the spirit rather than on top of the drink. Use a proper vanilla vodka if you have one, and a neutral vodka with pure extract if you do not.
How to Serve It
Shaken hard, double strained into a chilled martini glass, with half a passion fruit floated on the surface and a chilled shot of Champagne alongside in its own glass.
Serve immediately and serve it cold. It is a celebratory drink by character and by context. Ankrah continued working as a bartender and consultant until his death in 2020, and his obituaries consistently cited this as his most significant contribution to the industry. He built it to be enjoyed, and that is easier when it is built as he intended.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Vanilla VodkaNeutral spirit with vanilla flavouring, which pours the note straight without a pod to steep or a syrup to make. It is a flavoured vodka rather than a liqueur, so the vanilla is aromatic rather than sweet.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Pornstar Martini?
Why was it renamed from the Maverick Martini?
Can I skip the Champagne shot?
Fresh passion fruit or purée?
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits