Science Of Drink

The Pina Colada is one of the most famous cocktail in the world. Actually Pina Colada is very popular cocktail on the Caribbean. It is official cocktail of the Puerto Rico.

The Pina Colada (from Spanish – pina colada – strained pineapple) is tropical, sweet mixed drink which consist of rum, pineapple (juice or blended fruit) and cream of coconut. Some barmen also add heavy cream. The King of Cocktail also add a dash of Angostura bitter.

The key ingredient of modern Pina Colada is cream of coconut. The most notable brand is Coco Lopez. The Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut and traditional Thai coconut cream is two different coconut stuffs. The Coco Lopez is very sweet with amount of fat about 17%, but traditional coconut cream is very fat (about 50-60%) a little sweet cream. You may use traditional coconut cream instead Coco Lopez with extra sugar syrup.

The official date of Pina Colada birth is August 16, 1954. This cocktail was created in Caribe Hilton’s Beachcomber Bar in San Juan, Puerto Rico by Ramon “Monchito” Marrero. He blended light puerto-rican rum with pineapple juice and Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut and crushed ice and great Pina Colada was born. Actually the story of Pina Colada is under debate. The great article about Pina Colada Cocktail written by George Sinclair aka Bourbon George aka Thinking Bartender you may read here.

For my Pina Colada I use recipe which include rum, pineapple stuffs, traditional thai coconut milk (100% natural stuffs) and cane sugar syrup. I prefer blended pinacolada than shaken.

Pina Colada

50 ml white rum
100 ml pineapple juice
50 ml coconut milk
20 ml simple syrup
dash of Angostura bitter (optional)
Blend all ingredients in a blender with scoop of crushed ice. Serve in the collins, hurricane glass, large goblet or colada-glass. Garnish with pineapple slice and red maraschino cherry.

For Virgin Pina Colada omit rum. The Virgin Pina Colada is great refreshing sweet drink.

Be careful with crushed ice in the Pina Colada. For best consistency you may use a little bit less of crushed ice than for another frozen drinks.

I declared three degree of Pina Colada:

1. The Pina Colada with canned pineapple juice and white rum. It is average potation. Use quality juice and quality rum and your obtain the decent potation. Also you may use mix of white and dark rums or add dash or two of Angostura bitter for interesting results.

2. For better results I use caned pineapple (this trick I read in one of Calabrese book). In this case I use my best aged rums – like Varadero 5 y.o., Matusalem 7 y.o., Bacardi 8 or Havana Club Anejo Especial – with great results.

3. I use fresh ripe pineapple and great aged rums for my ultimate pinacoladas:

My Pina Colada

50 ml aged rum
90 g fresh pineapple
50 ml coconut milk
20 ml simple syrup
First blend all ingredients without ice until smooth. Than add scoop of crushed ice and blend again.Serve in the collins, hurricane glass, large goblet or colada-glass. Garnish with pineapple slice and red maraschino cherry.

This version of Pina Colada Cocktail is awesome drink. It has so sweet rum and fruit taste with great palate of aged rum and thin smooth consistency. It is great summer cocktail.

The Cuba Libre Cocktail is great and simple choice for hot summer day or evening. This cocktail was created by unknown american solder under Cuban-Spanish War for Independence (1890-s). The Cuba Libre Cocktail has so simple composition – cuban rum, Coca-Cola and lime. The key of this cocktail is the squeeze of lime wedge.

Cuba Libre

50 ml rum
Coca-Cola
lime wedge
Take fresh ripe lime and cut lime wedge. Fill collins glass (300 ml) with ice-cubes and pour rum. Squeeze lime vedge than put the lime wedge into glass. Add cola. Serve with a straw.

The Cuba Libre Cocktail has complex so sweet refreshing taste with great rum palate. I prefer to use in my Cuba Libre shot of spiced rum for great results.

Now we explore two so similar cocktails of Prohibition Era. The Flamingo Cocktail and the Mary Pickford Cocktail. Both of this cocktails are so rare and hard to find in popular cocktails book. Both has similar composition with rum and pineapple with hint of fresh lime (Flamingo) or maraschino liqueur (Mary Pickford). Both has beatiful foam as a garnish.

Dale DeGroff suppose that cocktail Flamingo was created by famous Constante Ribalagua – owner and barman of La Floridita, Havana. The gold age of this and another cuban bar was at Prohibition. I use recipe of Flamingo Cocktail from The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff.

Flamingo

35 ml light rum
35 ml pineapple juice
1 tsp. grenadine
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
Shake. Pour into cocktail glass.

The Flamingo Cocktail has smooth and light fruit cocktail with great rum palate. My favorite white rum – Havana Club Anejo Blanco – work extremely well in this cocktail.

The Mary Pickford Cocktail has so similar composition with maraschino liqueur instead lime juice. Dale DeGroff suppose that Mary Pickford Cocktail was invented also Constante Ribalagua but another sources report that Mary Pickford Cocktail was invented by another cuban barman – Eddie Woelke (the creator of famous El Presedente Cocktail). This cocktail created for first Hollywood superstar – Mary Pickford.

First mention of the Mary Pickford Cocktail is in Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddoc (1930) but I use version from Cocktails and Mixed Drinks by Anthony Hogg.

Mary Pickford

35 ml white rum
35 ml pineapple juice
1 tsp maraschino liqueur
1 tsp grenadine
Shake and strain in the cocktail glass.

Wow! The Mary Pickford Cocktail is awesome drink. It is one of the best cocktail that I drink!

Dale DeGroff also specify another recipe of Mary Pickford Cocktail – “the Flamingo Cocktail plus orange curacao”. It is worth to try.

Mary Pickford #2

35 ml white rum
35 ml pineapple juice
1 tsp orange curacao
1 tsp grenadine
1 tsp fresh lime juice
Shake and strain in the cocktail glass.

This version of Mary Pickford Cocktail has well-balanced smooth taste with pleasant fruit and citrus taste with great rum palate. Great drink for hot summer evening. By the way, best orange liqueur for this cocktail in my opinion is Cointreau.

As we know the Bee’s Knees Cocktail is wonderful drink. Then I explore the Bee’s Knees cocktail I found the Jeffry Morgentaller opinion that rum is good substitute of gin in this cocktail. It seems fantastic :) Of course I try it!

First I tasted the Bee’s Knees Cocktail with white rum. I use same proportions as original version.

Bee’s Knees (Rum ver.)

50 ml white rum
20 ml honey syrup
15 ml fresh lemon juice
Shake. Tumbler with ice. Garnish with lemon wedge.

I serve the Bee’s Knees Cocktail with rum on the rocks. The Bee’s Knees Cocktail need good and powerful rum as Havana Club Anejo Blanco for best results. The Rum version of Bee’s Knees Cocktail has excelent and good balanced a little sweet refreshing taste with great rum palate.

And I try the Bee’s Knees Cocktail with aged rum. I use Jeffry’s proportions and garnish for this cocktail.

Bee’s Knees (El Vaquero ver.)

50 ml aged rum
25 ml honey syrup
25 ml fresh lemon juice
Shake. Tumbler with ice. Garnish with quartered orange with clove.

The Bee’s Knees Cocktail with El Dorado 12 y.o. is great drink. It has very rich palate with aroma of rum, honey and citrus. But with Bacardi 8 I obtain very mediocre results. Anyway, the Bee’s Knees Cocktail with aged rums is great drinks.

As you know, I was realy inspired by March MxMo theme – punch. And I realy inspired by old mixed drink – pure classic like Gin Punch. Now I exploring another old and classic cocktail – The Knickerbocker Special. This cocktail has very interesting composition – rum and raspberry syrup. The classic version of this cocktail specifies five main ingredients – raspberry surup (Hogg and Jackson, but CocktailDB specified grenadine), lime or lemon juice, orange juice, curacao liqueur and rum. Thereat CocktailDB and Jackson prescribed light rum, but Hogg and DeGroff – dark. I use one of my gold (actually aged) rum – Bacardi Reserva.

Knickerbocker Special

60 ml gold rum
8 ml raspberry syrup (berry grenadine)
8 ml fresh lemon juice
8 ml orange juice
8 ml orange curacao
some peneapple chunks
Muddle the pineapple spear with juices. Add the rest of ingredients and shake. Serve in a cocktail glass.

The Knickerbocker Special Cocktail has very interesting taste. It has rich berry-fruit sweet-and-sour taste with bright rum palate. The Bacardi Reserva Rum work extremely well in this cocktail. It is amazing cocktail.

I explore one of the oldest version of Knickerbocker, which I found in Imbibe! by D. Wondrich (one of my favorite cocktail book in present time). The original recipe is:

1/2 LIME OR LEMON, SQUEEZE OUT OF THE JUICE, AND PUT RIND AND JUICE IN THE GLASS
2 TEA-SPOONFULS OF RASPBERRY SYRUP
1 WINE-GLASS [2 oz] SANTA CRUZ RUM
1/2 TEASPOONFUL OF CURACOA

Use small bar-glass.
Cool with shaved ice; shake up well and ornament with berries in season. If this is not sweet enough, put in a little more raspberry syrup.

I adopt Wondrich`s recipe to:

Knickerbocker Punch

60 ml gold rum
15 ml raspberry syrup
15 ml orange curacao
15 ml fresh lime juice
Shake. Serve in a tumbler with crushed ice. Garnish with berries, pinneaple spear and lime shell.

The Knickerbocker Punch is a magnificient drink. I was fascinated by its rich and smooth palate with a first sip. Actually it is real “mai tai!”, awesome cocktail. One of the best cocktail that I ever drink.

This MxMo (hosted by Frederic & company at Cocktail Virgin Slut has very interesting theme – tea. Tea, as it strikes me, is not widespread ingredients of cocktail. I know a few cocktail with tea but never prepare or taste they. But I like tea and like cocktails and then participate!

Actually I am a big fan of tea, but only one kind of tea – I love strong, sweet and hot black tea – I love russian tea (without lemon ;) ). This is my method of making the tea:

How make the tea like a kiss (russian method): Please use only best quality black whole leaf tea. Please use thin-walled porcelain teapot. Take a teaspoonful of tea per one cup of tea (200 ml). Give a swill teapot with boiling water (and warm up). Then put tea in the teapot and warm up during half of minute. Then pour over tea boiling water (half of teapot), close teapot and cover the teapot with linen towel. Wait 3 minutes and add boiling water for full teapot. Wait 3-5 minutes. You may see white foam on the surface of tea if you make all right. This foam is significative of tea quality and proper making. The properly making tea must be like a kiss – strong, sweet, hot. I use that sort of tea for this cocktail:

English Cobbler

15 ml fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. sugar
30 ml strong tea
60 ml Jamaica rum
Build. Serve in highball glass with crushed ice. Garnish with berry. Serve with straws.

It is my first cobbler. Actually cobbler garnish with berry – something like blackberry and raspberry, but I garnish my first cobbler with another berry – cape gooseberry :)

The English Cobbler is interesting cocktail. It has so strong and a little bit tart taste with great rum palate. I use two my rums in this cocktail – sweet and aromatic cuban rum Varadero Oro 5 Anos and awesome Demerara rum – rich, smooth and complex El Dorado 15 y.o. Both cocktails are admiable! I can make the next conclusion – good rums with good tea is good idea :)

This variation of classic tropic cocktail Planter`s Punch with pompous name was found on my favorite Cocktail DB.

Hotel Drake Vesuvius

30 ml gold rum
30 ml Jamaica rum
30 ml fresh lemon juice
45 ml fresh orange juice
15 ml grenadine
1/2 tsp. sugar
Shake. Strain in highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with fruit and mint sprig.

I use my new rum Bacardi Reserva as gold rum and El Dorado Demerara Dark Rum instead Jamaica Rum. Also I use unrefined cane sugar which I dissolved in lemon juice before shaking.

The Hotel Drake Vesuvius Cocktail has so sweet and refreshing taste with main palate of rum. It is simple but delicious rum punch.

The source of this interesting version of famous Zombie Cocktail is Bartender’s Guide by Trader Vic, 1947. It contain one of my favorite spirit – Pernod – strong anise flavored liqueur from France. The Zombie is one of my favorite tiki-cocktail.

Zombie (Trader Vic`s, 1947)

30 ml dark rum
60 ml Puerto Rican light rum
30 ml orange curacao
30 ml fresh orange juice
30 ml fresh lemon juice
15 ml grenadine
1 dash Pernod
15 ml 151-proof Demerara rum
Mix in a mixing glass with a large piece of ice, stir well and pour over cracked ice in a14 oz. chimney glass. Serve with straw.

I use four rum – dark and heavy rum from Trinidad – Angostura 1919, dark Demerara rum El Dorado Dark, light cuban rum – Havana Club Anejo 3 Anos and 140-proof Demerara Rum El Dorado. I increase amount of Pernod up to 1 tsp for excellent results. Also I use BOLS Dry Orange liqueur, commercial grenadine and fresh juices. I shake this cocktail and serve in my new ceramic mug, garnish with a traditional flag.

The Zombie Cocktail is great drink. Admirable, very booze and very funny cocktail. The Zombie is a Damn Strong Rum Punch! :)

This cocktail recipe was found in The Craft of the Cocktail: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master Bartender, with 500 Recipes by Dale DeGroff. The Tropical Cocktail has classic elegant composition and, as Dale DeGroff specified, is an alternative to a Daiquiri Cocktail from the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

Tropical Cocktail

60 ml white rum
15 ml orange curacao
8 ml fresh lime juice
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.

The Tropical Cocktail has rich rum taste with some sourness and hint of citrus. It is admirable cocktail.

Caipirinha is simple and gorgeous cocktail from heritage Brazilian rum-like sugarcane based spirit cachaca. Caipirinha is traditional drink from local ingredients – cachaca, lime and sugar.

Caipirinha cocktail has two sister – Caipirissima (with white rum instead cachaca) and Caipiroska (with vodka instead cachaca). Both are excellent drink. Please use my photo-guide for best Caipirinha / Caipirissima / Caipiroska!

First you need some key ingredients – cachaca (white rum or vodka), lime and sugar. I use sugar syrup from refined and unrefined cane sugar with 2:1 ratio. You may add sugar as crystal or powder.

Also you need some simple stuff: knife, muddler and jigger (optional).

First cut lime on 8 chunks.

Next step – add sugar syrup.

Muddle lime chunks with syrup.

Pack glass with muddled lime with ice cube.

You may stir your Caipirinha / Caipirissima / Caipiroska. But I prefer shake this cocktail. Thus pour muddled lime with ice in metal part of boston shaker, add 2 oz. cachaca / white rum / vodka and slightly shake.

Pour cocktail on rocks glass (don’t use a strainer, pour your Caipirinha / Caipirissima / Caipiroska with ice). Serve.

Caipirinha / Caipirissima / Caipiroska

60 ml cachaca / white rum / vodka
1 small fresh lime
sugar syrup to taste (15 ml sugar syrup)
Muddle. Stir. Rocks glass.

Caipirinha / Caipirissima / Caipiroska – is great, very refreshing, sweet and sour cocktail with bright and smooth taste. Enjoy with your favorite Latino music :)