Cocktail · Medium strength
Piña Colada
Rum, coconut, pineapple — a vacation with no return flight.
How to order it: Fresh pineapple juice changes everything. Yes, get the umbrella.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz white rum
- 1½ oz coconut cream
- 1½ oz pineapple juice
- Blend with crushed ice
- Pineapple wedge; umbrella
The story
Puerto Rico declared it the national drink in 1978, and two San Juan establishments still contest the patent. The stronger claim belongs to Ramón 'Monchito' Marrero, who is said to have created it at the Caribe Hilton in 1954, not long after Coco López — the canned cream of coconut that made the drink possible — was developed on the island. The Barrachina restaurant claims a 1963 invention of its own. Either way, blender, rum, pineapple, and coconut fused into the most unapologetically pleasurable cocktail ever engineered, immortalized by a 1979 Rupert Holmes song about marital boredom. It endures because it refuses to be sophisticated, and is therefore immortal.
Modern variations
The Piña Colada cast a long shadow. These pours carry the torch:
Adjacent pours