061 – Piña Collider

A post ‘lock-down’ re-make of the 1954 classic ‘Piña Colada’.

I’m not a huge fan of the Piña Colada, and believe me I’ve tried. Even for this re-invention, I made six different versions and researched a host of others. The International Bartenders Association (IBA) recipe – yuk – the official Bacardí recipe, the official Caribe Hilton Hotel (where it all began in 1954), and the revisions by cocktail luminaries Simon Difford and Steve The Bartender. The end-result, I’m not publishing a Piña Colada (although I will talk about it a lot and you’ll find plenty of recipes below), I’m making my own new fusion cocktail, a challenging to make … 2021 Piña Collider!

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ #Locktail – although be prepared for a challenge, a 2021 ‘Piña Collider’.

METHOD – FOR THE CLARIFIED PIÑA COLADA MIX – Combine 120ml Bacardí Rum (white), 60ml of coconut water, 40ml of Falernum, 70ml of fresh pineapple juice, 20ml of fresh lime juice and 10ml of simple syrup (home-made, 2-parts sugar to 1-part water) into a pouring jug. Slowly pour the mixture into a bowl containing 80ml of full-cream milk and stir gently, milk will curdle and appear ‘powdery’.

Pass the resulting combined mixture through a coffee percolator filter (see image above left-side: mixture is in the filter, inside a funnel or suitable strainer, dripping slowly into the larger bowl), the resulting mixture that passes through will be clear or close-to-clear. Be patient, the process is slow (a drop at a time). It is the curdled milk that is doing the filtering, not the coffee filter, so don’t disturb the filter. If any of the early part is tainted, or if you have an ‘accident’, pass the early part or tainted mix back through the curdled-milk, until you have a clear mixture. Discard the curdled milk filter and any waste, and refrigerate the clear and clarified resulting mixture until very cold. This is a ‘Clarified Piña Colada’ and you can drink the result as a cocktail in its own right.

FOR THE PIÑA COLLIDER COCKTAIL – Add 45ml Coconut Infused Tequila (1800 Reserva – you can use 15ml coconut water and 30ml Tequila Blanco if you can’t source Coconut Tequila), 15ml Falernum, 15ml fresh lime juice, 15ml fresh pineapple juice, and most importantly 75ml of the home-made clarified Piña Colada mix (recipe above), into a cocktail shaker with a large handful of ice chunks/pieces. Shake vigorously until very cold (10-20 seconds depending on the size of the ice pieces – longer for larger). Double strain the mixture into a chilled champagne coupe, martini or cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh pineapple slice and an optional maraschino (cocktail) cherry. Drink while cold.

HISTORICAL NOTES – Rum, combined with pineapple and coconut goes as far back as the 1700’s, with surviving accounts from trading ships of the 18th Century. The first recorded use of the name Piña Colada (‘strained pineapple’) is in a December 1922 edition of Travel magazine, with the commentary … “But best of all is a piña colada, the juice of a perfectly ripe pineapple… rapidly shaken up with ice, sugar, lime and Bacardí rum in delicate proportions.” That version, without ‘Coconut’ is still known as a ‘Cuban-style Piña Colada’.

The credit for the better known and more successful contemporary Piña Colada is, as is so often the case, contested. The Caribe Hilton Hotel, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, claims to be the originator of the Piña Colada, debuting the cocktail on 15 August 1954. The hotel credits their bartender Ramón ‘Monchito’ Marrero Pérez with the invention – the addition of coconut cream (coconut cream only became available from a process invented in 1948). There is a competing claim from bartender Ricardo Garcia who also worked at the Beachcomber Bar of the Caribe Hilton in the same year, a claim which is not supported by the Caribe Hilton Hotel.

In 2004, the Caribe Hilton was presented with a signed proclamation by Puerto Rico’s Governor, Sila María Calderón, honouring the 50th anniversary of the Piña Colada, and in a way silencing competing claims beyond the Beachcomber Bar at the Caribe Hilton.

Of course, despite that, there remain other claims to the famous cocktail’s creation. Don Ramón Portas Mignot from the Barrachina Restaurant in Puerto Rico, claims the cocktails invention in 1963. It is true that the cocktail didn’t appear in print until after this date, however it would have appeared to have been at the Caribe Hilton for a considerable time before this claim. Not to say that two people or more, couldn’t have come up with the addition of coconut cream to the 1922 or other similar drinks. There is even a story about pirate Roberto Cofresí inventing it in the 1800’s, although that appears to have been discounted, at least in so far as the cocktail’s name by a number of cocktail historians.

In 1978 the Piña Colada was named Puerto Rico’s official drink, and the 10th of July each year (in the USA) is National Piña Colada Day.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Piña Colada’ in included on the International Bartender Association’s (IBA) ‘Contemporary Classics’ official drinks list, here. The recipe calls for 50ml white rum, 30ml coconut cream, and 50ml of fresh pineapple juice, blended with ice and poured into a large glass. Garnished with a slice of pineapple and a cocktail cherry (above image – far left).

Bacardí have their own recipe, here. It calls for 50ml Bacardí coconut rum, 35ml coconut water, 25ml pineapple juice, 4 pineapple chunks and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Crush the pineapple chucks, stir in the coconut water, pineapple juice and sugar, then shake vigorously with the rum and ice. Then serve in a hurricane glass over ice and garnish (above image – second from left).

The Caribe Hilton Hotel have their own official recipe. It calls for 60ml white rum, 30ml coconut cream, 30ml heavy cream, 60ml fresh pineapple juice blended with 125ml (gm) of ice until smooth. Poured into a 360ml glass and garnished with a fresh pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry (above image – middle).

TASTING NOTES – So what to do when there are three official(-ish) recipes, the Caribe Hilton, the Bacardí, and the IBA, well you try them all of course. Then add in a fourth contemporary take on the Piña Colada, a Simon Difford recipe, here (second from the right in the photo above). Yet more, for a fifth, making a ‘Clarified Piña Colada’, inspired in a very large part by Steve The Bartender’s ‘Piña Colada Milk Punch’, his recipe is here (last on the right, in the photo above).

The results, from my three-person tasting panel, are in. Firstly, is the IBA single-handedly trying to destroy the Piña Colada? It is a terrible recipe, and would score very low against the other 60-cocktails we have explored on this website that predate it, a truly awful drink. The coconut is too strong, the overall volume low, the pineapple fades into the background in a watery tasting ‘diluted’ mix that isn’t actually watery.

The Bacardí recipe is enjoyable, closer to the 1922 ‘Cuban Piña Colada’, as although there is Coconut flavour, there is no creaminess. If you like Pineapple and Rum and don’t like creamy cocktails, this may be the best ‘official’ recipe for you.

Unfortunately, although the Caribe Hilton Hotel recipe has more volume and doesn’t taste ‘diluted’ like the IBA, the coconut cream and heavy cream make for a very thick and creamy result. Without any lime, it is only sweetness, creaminess and rum that the palate experiences, no surprises, little flavour range and no complexity compared to so many of the great cocktails. Perhaps they have some secret undisclosed ingredients for you if you drink one at the hotel?

Simon Difford’s modified Piña Colada solved many of the issues with the other three, and was the best of the ‘creamy’ versions. The only problem is that the added Cahaça is very noticeable, and in the end, the cocktail is probably not actually a Piña Colada. Unfortunately, it still retains some of the flavour range issues of the official Piña Colada recipes above.

Steve the Bartender’s ‘Piña Colada Milk Punch’ was the best of all, 3-to-4 stars from the small tasting crew, the milk curd clarification still leaves the mix with a creamy/milky taste and that same ‘mouth feeling’ but without any cloying density. It also retains the flavours, at almost full strength, without dilution through the chilling process and does not taste ‘diluted’ or weak, or hold any of the negative ‘curdled cream’ flavours you can get in the cream mixes. The added lime and falernum add flavour range and complexity to the pineapple, rum and coconut, delivered in a contemporary and simple way. A really good drink.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – It is obvious already that I have decided for a dramatic change, and a cocktail that isn’t really any longer a ‘Piña Colada’. In the same way that Simon Difford added Cachaça, I think a second spirit is a great way to go, just something a bit more complimentary to the existing flavours. Bringing another great spirit that goes with ‘lime’ and ‘pineapple’, Tequila. This makes it a collision of flavours, hopefully balanced and complementary, hence the name … a ‘Piña Collider’.

I have gone with 1800 Coconut Silver Tequila (100% Agave), a lovely double-distilled Tequila with a ripe coconut flavour and some sweetness to mesh well with the classic Piña Colada flavours. I have taken the 1922 ‘Cuban Piña Colada’ approach and included lime, especially given that I have no ‘active cream’ in the final mix. I have also added 15ml (10% of the cocktail volume) falernum, bringing a touch of heat and pressing out further the overal flavour range, with a complimentary tropical cocktail ingredient.

Finally and most importantly, half the cocktail volume, is the clarified ‘Piña Colada Milk Punch’, slightly adjusted, given Steve The Bartender’s model solved most of the core issues with the drink. 75ml of the clarified mix, gives the cocktail close to a full shot of Bacardí Rum (matching the Tequilla) as well as all the classic Piña Colada flavours, pineapple and cream, since the whole mix is infused with ‘creaminess’ from the clarification method.

I think the end result is a really great drink, even if not technically a Piña Colada, and so did the panel of three. Of course I’m biased, and they might be too, so try one for yourself. Or have me make one for you, the next time we meet (just give me a day’s notice for the clarified mix preparation).

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is first cocktail from the 1951-1960 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes, this time it is both a 1954 re-discovery (and 1922) as well as a 2021 new creation. Full list in the index.