piña colada
Sweet Coconut - Pineapple - Tropically Island Vibes
The Perfect Tropical Drink!
Kenny Chesney says it best in his song “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” by stating, “The sun and the sand and a drink in my hand with no bottom…And no shoes, no shirt, no problems…” We can, without a doubt assume, that Uncle Kenny, after a few cocktails himself, was referring to one libation in particular that has for decades been a staple of island and tropical imbibing culture. The one, the only, the Piña Colada.
Though some may think that the Piña Colada is a modern invention, it can trace its storied roots back to 19th-century Puerto Rican pirate who with a little rum, coconut, and pineapple, single-handedly boosted his crew’s morale and ushered in the birth of a classic.
The Piña Colada as we know it today has little changed from its original inception back in the early 1800s. Combining 3 simple ingredients, pineapple juice, coconut milk, and white rum, Roberto Cofresí, a Puerto Rican pirate, created an elixir that was so good and so refreshing his crew rallied, exploring, sailing, and ultimately as the legend goes “stealing from the rich to give to the poor”, a real-life Robinhood of sorts. Sadly though with Cofresí death in the mid-1800s the original recipe, the moral booster as we call it was lost to time until about the mid-20th century when recipes for pineapple and coconut cocktails started emerging.
No one truly knows what sparked the reemergence, but the earliest known publication of the modern Piña Colada can be traced to The 'Savoy Cocktail Book' by Harry Craddock, published in the 1930s where white rum, coconut milk, and crushed pineapple are blended with ice to make a tropical themed beverage.
Fast-forward two decades and this is where the story really gets interesting. Articles start emerging worldwide about Cuban white rum drinks created with pineapple, coconut milk, and other libations made with island fruits and exotic blendable ingredients.
Determined to know, or should we say taste the truth, two bartenders, Ramón "Monchito" Marrero and Don Ramon Portas Mingot both stake separate claims to inventing the modern Piña Colada. Marrero in 1954 at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Mingot at Barrachina in 1963. Both cocktail superheroes held true to the Piña Colada namesake combining pineapple juice, and white rum, and to make it uniquely Puerto Rican, added Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut, to cement the Piña Colada as a true classic cocktail and the national cocktail of Puerto Rico.
Without a doubt, the Piña Colada is one of those drinks that when you have a good one it transports you to a time and place where there are no cares in the world, you feel the ocean breeze, and get to enjoy the world with “…two pina coladas, I want one for each hand. Let's set sail with Captin Morgan and never leave dry land. Any troubles I forgot 'em. I buried 'em in the sand. So bring me two pina coladas She said good-bye to her good timin' man!”
TASTING & SERVING NOTES: A Leisuremann's Piña Colada celebrates the delicious blend of sweet coconut, pineapple, and white rum. On first taste, you will get a mouth full of authentic Piña Colada flavor…Coconut sweetness dances on your palette echoing tropical notes of fresh pineapple and citrus. A Leisuremann’s Piña Colada is best served with crushed ice or blended, in a hurricane-shaped or tropical-style glass with a pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry skewer as a garnish - Cheers!
Cheers to the truly refreshing and always bottomless Piña Colada!
