Piña Colada

The original frozen, fanciful umbrella drink.

erick castro pina colada

Based off a Cuban recipe for a non-alcoholic pineapple slushy (a piña fria) popular in the early 1900s, this frozen beverage evolved to add coconut cream and rum. The Puerto Rican Hilton claims to have invented the recipe in 1954, but the first-known mention of what we know as the Piña Colada came from the New York Times in 1950, attributing the drink to Cuba. Immortalized in song by Warren Zevon’s “Werewolf in London,” (“I saw a werewolf drinking a Piña Colada at Trader Vic’s…”) in 1978 and then again in 1979, with the number one hit single, “Escape (the Piña Colada song)” by Rupert Holmes, the Piña Colada has long held a place in the public imagination as a fanciful, other-worldly umbrella drink.

Ingredients

Serving: 1

  • 2 ounces rum, light or aged
  • 2 ounces rum, light or aged
  • 1/2 ounce lime juice
  • 1/2 ounce lime juice
  • 1 ounce pineapple juice
  • 1 ounce pineapple juice
  • 1 ounce cream of coconut
  • 1 ounce cream of coconut
  • 1 ounce coconut milk
  • 1 ounce coconut milk
  • 2 cups ice
  • 2 cups ice

Garnish: pineapple wedge and an umbrella

Directions
  1. Add all ingredients to a blender.
  2. Blend on high until smooth.
  3. Pour into a Collins or hurricane glass (or a hollowed out, frozen pineapple if you're feeling kitschy).
  4. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and an umbrella.

Tagged: coconut, Cuba, pineapple, rum