Piña Colada: a frozen recipe for a tropical cocktail

An interesting sounding item in the twitter-stream led the Utah Mixologist to an interesting post by Simon Ford on Liquor.com titled “In Defense of Blender Cocktails”.  Blended drinks have been out of style for many years, Ford reports, but may now be undergoing a resurgence as “a few new brave bars” are beginning to serve blended drinks again.  While the observant will point out that any good Mexican restaurant serves frozen Margaritas, there is a lot of truth in Simon’s post when it comes to plain, vanilla cocktail bars.  Blended drinks have never been out of style for this mixologist, but they can be hard to find once you’re out of Margarita territory.  It would be great if anyone in Salt Lake City, or anywhere else as far as that goes, who has a favorite cocktail bar or restaurant that serves blended cocktails besides Margaritas could share that info with other readers in a response to this post.

Shawn Vergara of Blackbird in San Francisco wrote that a blended cocktail is “like a vacation in a glass,” and that thought really resonates.  Whenever I’m in Hawaii I like to kick back on the lanai and enjoy a Piña Colada (follow the link for my rocks recipe).  Job one upon arrival (and about the only job that should be done in Hawaii) is to get to the grocery store and/or the ABC Store to get some Rum and the necessaries for Piña Coladas and Mai Tais.  Piña Colada is a delicious cocktail, especially if you enjoy sweeter cocktails, Rum-based cocktails, or tiki cocktails (or all three).  Even in a vacation condo you should avoid commercial Piña Colada mixers.  They’re high in sugar and often have a chalky texture, and they don’t really taste as good as natural juices.  I usually use Coco Reál® Cream of Coconut for my cocoanut drinks, but it’s so thick it’s hard to measure, so I usually “guestimate” the amount and just squirt some directly from the squeeze bottle into the blender. 

Piña Colada

1 ½ oz light (or gold) Rum

½ oz Lime juice, freshly squeezed (1/2 Lime)

½ - 1 oz Coco Reál® Cream of Coconut (one healthy squirt)

1 ½ oz Pineapple or Orange juice

¼ oz Falernum

½ oz Orgeat

1 thick slice of fresh, ripe Pineapple

Combine the ingredients with ice in a blender (about 6 to 8 ice cubes, enough to make it thick).  Blend until smooth.  For garnish, use a cocktail pick to pin a maraschino cherry to a pineapple wedge or orange wheel, and serve with a straw.

Piña Colada: a recipe for tropical cocktail enjoyment

Whenever I’m in Hawaii I like to kick back on the lanai and enjoy a Piña Colada cocktail (if not several). Assignment #1 upon arrival is to get to the grocery store and/or the ABC Store to get some rum and Piña Colada “fixins”. It’s a delicious cocktail, especially if you enjoy sweeter cocktails, rum-based cocktails, or tiki cocktails, and it’s not that hard to make. Unless you have a lot more dedication as a bartender than I do (or are staying in a really nice condo), you may not have adequate bar gear on vacation. If that’s the case (and even at home, if you prefer), you can substitute a pineapple-coconut juice blend for the juices listed in my recipe. The advantage of using two separate juices is that you can also use the pineapple juice to make Mai Tais. Try to avoid commercial Piña Colada mixers unless you have a real need to use them. They’re high in sugar (that’s why they taste so good), but don’t really taste as good as the natural juices.

I usually use Coco Reál® Cream of Coconut for my cocoanut drinks, but it’s hard to measure it so I usually “guestimate” the amount and just squirt some directly from the squeeze bottle into the mixing cup or blender. You can build this cocktail directly in a highball glass. The Coco Reál might not completely dissolve if you’re stirring or shaking with ice, so you should stir only the liquid ingredients briskly until there are no lumps before adding ice to ensure the cocktail is well mixed. This is not an issue, however, if you’re using a blender.

Piña Colada

2 oz light (or gold) Rum

½ - 1 oz Coco Reál® Cream of Coconut (one healthy squirt)

4 oz Pineapple juice

Combine the ingredients in a highball glass and stir well to dissolve the Coco Reál. Fill the glass with crushed ice and stir again. (To blend, just combine the ingredients with ice in a blender.) For garnish, pin a bright red maraschino cherry to a pineapple wedge or orange wheel, and serve with a straw.