Featured Recipe: Wayward Spirits Mango Colada

Wayward Spirits Mango Colada - 

Continuing our coconut-themed kick-off for Summer 2020, Autumn and I broke out the blended this past Memorial Day weekend to whip up some mango piña coladas.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m usually apprehensive when it comes to piña coladas; they are often too sweet, lacking in rum, and have an undesirable texture (like watered down half-and-half).  However, the recipe below is the real deal, producing a perfectly balanced, fruity, and boozy frozen cocktail.  We loved it so much, we made it two nights in a row (which is a very rare occurrence)

The following feature will provide the history of the piña colada, necessary ingredients, and steps for making it at home.  Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments!

Piña Colada History:

One of the worlds most famous tropical cocktails, the piña colada, was originally concocted in Puerto Rico in the 1950s.  Though history is clear on where the drink originated, to this day it is still hotly contested who came up with the idea for the drink.  Here are the three leading theories:

1. Ramon “Monchito” Marrero, a bartender at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, claims to have created the drink in 1954 after being instructed to create a new cocktail that “captured the flavors of the island”.  After months of experimenting, Marrero finally landed on a drink that incorporated flavors of rum, cream of coconut, and pineapple.
2. Ricardo Gracia, another barman at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan during the 1950s, claims that he originally came up with the idea for the cocktail.  While working at the hotel, a strike by local coconut-cutters forced him to serve the then-popular coconut cream and rum cocktail in a hollowed-out pineapple (rather than the traditional coconut shell).  The improvised vessel added the additional flavor of pineapple to the drink, which became an immediate sensation.
3. Restaurant Barrachina opened two miles west of the Caribe Hilton in the late 1950s, and the owner Pepe Barrachina claims his restaurant is the original birthplace of the piña colada.  On a trip to South America, Barrachina claims that he convinced Ramon Portas Mingot, a Spanish mixologist who wrote cocktail books and worked in the top bars of Buenos Aires, to leave Argentina and become head bartender at his Puerto Rican restaurant. 

After its rise in popularity among Puerto Rican vacationers, the drink was swiftly brought back to the U.S. mainland, finding its place on tiki bar menus across the country.  Ultimately, the proliferation of electric blenders and popular tiki bars such as Trader Vic’s and Don The Beachcomber helped to spread the mixed drink around the world during the 1960s and 1970s.
 
 
Recipe/ Instructions:

Glassware:  Hurricane Glass

Ingredients:

• 2 oz fresh pineapple juice
• 1 oz Bacardi White Rum
• 1 oz black blended overproof rum (we use Plantation Overproof Rum O.F.T.D)
• 2 oz coconut rum (we use Malibu coconut rum)
• 1 cup frozen pineapple (cubed)
• 1 cup frozen mango (cubed)
• ½ cup Coconut Cream (homemade is best, but Coco Lopez will suffice)
• 1 cup ice (for blending)

Coconut Cream Recipe (if needed):

1. One 13.5 oz can of Thai Kitchen Unsweetened Coconut Milk (not the “Lite” variety), or you can use Chaokoh Coconut Milk for a thicker and creamier finish
2. Scoop the coconut cream and milk out of the can into a mixing bowl
3. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt
4. Mix well with immersion or hand blender until the coconut cream and milk are well blended.
5. Add 13.5 oz of 2:1 simple syrup (using the empty coconut milk can as a measuring cup)
6. Mix well with an immersion or hand blender until the coconut milk and simple syrup are well blended
7. Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 weeks

Cocktail Steps:
Combine ingredients and ice in a blender, and blend until smooth.  Open pour into hurricane glass, and add 5 drops of Bittermens Elemakule Tiki Bitters (not necessary, but a nice touch).

Garnish:
Garnish with a cocktail umbrella and wedge of pineapple.
 
Wayward Spirits Rating and Twist:
Overall Score – 5

​As I mentioned above, I’m not typically a fan of frozen cocktails as they are often too sweet, lacking in alcohol, and/or have a terrible mouthfeel.  However, this recipe for our Wayward Spirits Mango Colada is heavenly and has made me reconsider this viewpoint.

The addition of overproof rum and mango (and right sizing the amount of coconut cream) adds a layer of complexity to the drink that I felt was lacking in many piña coladas I have tried in the past.

If you are like me, and are on the fence about frozen cocktails, give this version a try, and let me know what you think in the comments!