Piña colada

Piña colada

IBA Official Cocktail
Type	Cocktail
Primary alcohol by volume	Rum
Served	Blended with ice (frozen style)
Standard garnish	pineapple slice and/or maraschino cherry
Standard drinkware	Poco Grande glass
IBA specified ingredients*	3 cl (one part) white rum 3 cl (one part) coconut milk 9 cl (3 parts) pineapple juice
Preparation	Mix with crushed ice in blender until smooth. Pour into chilled glass, garnish and serve.
Notes	Alternately, the three main components can simply be added to a cocktail glass, and ice cubes added after
* Piña colada recipe at International Bartenders Association

The piña colada /ˌpiːnəkoʊˈlɑːdə, -njə-/ (Spanish: piña Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpiɲa], pineapple and colada Spanish pronunciation: [koˈlaða], strained) is a sweet cocktail made with rum, coconut cream or coconut milk, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice. It may be garnished with either a pineapple wedge, a maraschino cherry, or both. The piña colada has been the national drink of Puerto Rico since 1978.

Origin

The name piña colada literally means "strained pineapple", a reference to the freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice used in the drink's preparation.

Ramón Portas Mingot is credited with creating the drink.

Two Puerto Rican bartenders contest the ownership of their national drink. Ramón 'Monchito' Marrero Pérez claims to have first made it at the Caribe Hilton Hotel's Beachcomber Bar in San Juan in 1954, using the then newly-available coco lópez cream of coconut. Coco lópez was developed in Puerto Rico in 1948 by Don Ramón López-Irizarry, hence the Puerto Rican connection and the 1952 account of the drink's creation. Some say the drink did not acquire its name until the 1960s.

The Caribe Hilton Hotel sits on a 17-acre peninsula outside San Juan and was the first luxury hotel to open in the region, becoming a popular destination for the rich and famous who helped spread word of the drink.

Ramón Portas Mingot also says he created it in 1963 at the Barrachina Restaurant, 104 Fortaleza Street, Old San Juan. The restaurant stands by his claim to this day.

National Piña Colada Day is celebrated on the islands on 10 July.

History of the drink

The earliest known story states that in the 19th century, Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresí, to boost his crew's morale, gave them a beverage or cocktail that contained coconut, pineapple and white rum. This was what would be later known as the famous piña colada. With his death in 1825, the recipe for the piña colada was lost.

Ramón "Monchito" Marrero, a barman from the Caribe Hilton, claims to have created the Piña Colada in 1954, during his days as bartender at that resort. After three months of experimentation, Mr. Marrero finally settled upon the recipe for the Piña Colada, which he felt captured the true nature and essence of Puerto Rico. He continued to serve the drink at the Caribe Hilton for 35 years after its creation and was finally rewarded for his efforts in 1978 - when Puerto Rico officially proclaimed the cocktail its national drink.

Caribe Hilton possesses two proclamations that state the Hotel is the Birthplace of the Piña Colada. One proclamation was given by Puerto Rico Governor Sila M. Calderón in 2000, and the other was given in 2014 by Governor Alejandro García Padilla as part of the Piña Colada 60th Anniversary celebrations.

The remodeled Caribe Hilton Bar, Caribar Rums & Light Bites, provides a new menu reflecting the Evolution of the Piña Colada, including a contemporary version: the Clear Colada.

Barrachina, a restaurant in Puerto Rico, also claims to be the birthplace of the piña colada:

In 1963, on a trip to South America, Barrachina met another popular Spaniard and bartender Ramon Portas Mingot. Don Ramon has worked with the best places in Buenos Aires and associated with 'Papillon' the most luxurious bar in Carcao and was also recognized for his cocktail recipe books. Pepe Barrachina and Don Ramon developed a great relationship. While working as the main bartender at Barrachina (a restaurant in Puerto Rico), Ramon mixed pineapple juice, coconut cream, condensed milk and ice in a blender, creating a delicious and refreshing drink, known today as the Piña Colada.

Piña colada by Rey del Mojito

In popular culture

This cocktail gained in fame in Puerto Rico from 1978, and it gained worldwide fame after Rupert Holmes released his 1979 song, "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)", which became a popular hit around the world.

Preparation

There are many recipes of how to make a piña colada but the one that his friends tell in the book of José L. Díaz de Villegas to be the original recipe created by Monchito, is the following:

"Pour 3 ounces of coconut cream, 6 ounces of pineapple juice and 1​¹⁄₂ ounces of white rum into a blender or shaker with crushed ice, and blend or shake very well until smooth. Pour into chilled glass, garnish with pineapple wedge and/or a maraschino cherry."

Variations

Different proportions of the core ingredients, as well as different types of rum, may all be used in the piña colada. Frozen piña coladas are also served. Other named variations include:

• Amaretto colada – amaretto substituted for rum
• Chi chi – with vodka in place of rum
• Lava Flow – strawberry daiquiri and piña colada blended together
• Staten Island Ferry – Mailbu rum and pineapple juice, over ice
• Virgin piña colada or piñita colada – without the rum, thus non-alcoholic
• Kiwi Colada – with kiwifruit (fruit and syrup) in place of pineapple juice
• Variants of blue Hawaii with creme of coconut differ from piña colada mainly by including also blue Curaçao.

See also

• Coco López
• "Escape" - also known as "The Piña Colada Song"
• Ramón López Irizarry