PIÑA COLADA

PIÑA COLADA

2 measures white rum

2 measures pineapple juice

1 ½ measures coconut cream or coconut liqueur (Malibu)

“If you like Pina Coladas, and taking walks in the rain. If you’re not into health food. If you have half a brain.” Who can drink a PIÑA COLADA cocktail without singing that classic Rupert Holmes song Escape? Rupert both loved and hated that song. It made him famous, but it overshadowed any other music he ever wrote.

I love that song — it’s so fun to sing along with — but I’ve never liked drinking PIÑA COLADAS. Their smell always made me think I was drinking sunscreen. But it is suppose to be a fragrant cocktail and I’ve only had bad frozen ones from a mix in bars by a beach or pool. So, I thought I’d try a homemade one to see if it could change my mind. To make the PIÑA COLADA, I put the ingredients above into a shaker, filled it with ice, shook it well, and strained it into a bowl half-filled with ice. I added a cherry for garnish, but pineapple would have been better. Fresh pineapple juice, instead of canned, or better yet, a hollowed-out pineapple shell, would have been better still.

But I could only work with what I had, and that didn’t include a beach, a pool, or even a day over 75 degrees. But what I did have was still a damn good cocktail and much better than the ones in my past. It was aromatic and still smelled like sunscreen, but the PIÑA COLADA does break the mold on rum and juice drinks with its different taste and its lip-smacking flavor. It was created in Puerto Rico in 1954 by a bartender named Ramon who worked at a Hilton that was hopping at the time. In 1978, the PIÑA COLADA was named the official beverage of Puerto Rico. What’s America’s official beverage? Milwaukee beer?

I was amazed by my transformation. The PIÑA COLADA is back on my list! And when I get bored, there are 11 variations, such as an Amaretto Colada, an Iquana Colada (add Midori), or the most interesting one of all, a Lava Flow, which is half strawberry daiquiri and half PIÑA COLADA. That will have to erupt into my life someday very soon.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie