Piña Colada

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I learned something about coconuts today. On my way home from work I bought one of the what I thought were hulled coconuts I mentioned. Wrong. The white stuff that looked like coconut meat turned out to be a fibrous covering with the coconut, shell and all, still inside. I'm only glad the sticky liquid dripping down my shoulder turned out to be not blood.

Anyhow, tonight's drink with Barbancourt 5 star turned out pretty well. Herewith is the recipe:

1.) Equip safety glasses*

2.) Open coconut.

3.) Decant and strain coconut juice, reserve.

4.) Scrape out coconut meat, 3.5 oz, coarsely chop.

5.) Shower (optional).

6.) Pressure infuse coconut meat with 4 oz Barbancourt.

7.) Juice and strain pineapple to obtain 4 oz pineapple juice.

8.) Regrind and hone chef's knife from step 2.

9.) Disassemble and clean juicer, wash cutting boards, cups, floor.

10.) Redo nails, China Glaze Tart-y for the Party (optional).

11.) Strain coconut-rum infusion into Cuisinart.

12.) Juice lime, strain.

13.) Add 4 oz pineapple juice, 2 oz Coco Lopez, 10 ml lime juice, 4 oz ice to Cuisinart and blend.

14.) Pour into well chilled tropical cyclone glass over ice and serve.

* Goggles and face shield recommended.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This is the Colada is used to serve at my last bar.

2oz Pampero Anejo

0.5oz Wray and Nephew

2.5oz Fresh Pineaple Juice

2oz Coco Lopez

0.5oz Lime Juice

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Blend with a couple of shallow scoops of nugget ice.

Garnish with fresh mint, lime husk with bitters dash on.

Does that mean you put the bitters in the drink or on the garnish? Forgive me, I am a novice at this.

[Adam George]

Both because more bitters = more better.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Anyone know how I could get more coconut body and flavor without using as much Coco Lopez, and without being attacked by coconuts? The grocery store where I shop has Spectrum coconut oil, but I don't think they have unrefined. I will have to check. I don't believe they have unsweetened processed coconut either.

The problem, for me, with Coco Lopez is that it is too sweet.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I tried roughly equal proportions of Busted Barrel, coconut juice (reserved from last night's coconut experience), and pineapple juice. It was vile. I doubt Captain Jack Sparrow could have held it down. The predominant taste was salt. I had to add more pineapple juice and stir in some Coco Lopez just to make it barely potable.

Last night's Pina Colada was so good.

[FrogPrincesse]

Anyone know how I could get more coconut body and flavor without using as much Coco Lopez, and without being attacked by coconuts? The grocery store where I shop has Spectrum coconut oil, but I don't think they have unrefined. I will have to check. I don't believe they have unsweetened processed coconut either.

The problem, for me, with Coco Lopez is that it is too sweet.

Why not use some of the coconut meat from your previous experiments, together with the coconut water? If you blend that with pineapple and rum you should get a really nice pina colada.

Coconut oil is a complety different product. It's a fat so I am afraid that you are going to get a greasy mouthfeel but not the body or flavor that you are looking for.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I still have the meat that I pressure extracted, but I'm not sure it has much flavor left. I could try. But I would not use the coconut water/juice for drinking. It is very salty. Maybe it could be used for savory cooking but that's about it. I understand some people like coconut juice but it is not to my taste.

Coco Lopez is about twenty percent fat (and the rest sugars). Coco Lopez tastes oily to me by itself. That's why I thought adding coconut oil might work.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Anyone know how I could get more coconut body and flavor without using as much Coco Lopez, and without being attacked by coconuts? The grocery store where I shop has Spectrum coconut oil, but I don't think they have unrefined. I will have to check. I don't believe they have unsweetened processed coconut either.

The problem, for me, with Coco Lopez is that it is too sweet.

You could try a small amount of coconut essence, the kind that's used for baking. But be sparing, 'cause that stuff is strong. Other than that, maybe a coconut rum?

[Rafa]

Anyone know how I could get more coconut body and flavor without using as much Coco Lopez, and without being attacked by coconuts? The grocery store where I shop has Spectrum coconut oil, but I don't think they have unrefined. I will have to check. I don't believe they have unsweetened processed coconut either.

The problem, for me, with Coco Lopez is that it is too sweet.

You could try a small amount of coconut essence, the kind that's used for baking. But be sparing, 'cause that stuff is strong. Other than that, maybe a coconut rum?

Coconut rum, and coconut vodka, are actually useful for just this reason. Coconut cream and cream of coconut are fatty, sweet, and prone to separation, so infusions are a great way to get coconut flavor in a drink without having to deal with the textural problems.

Unsweetened coconut milk is good too.

[Adam George]

Koko Kanu coconut rum is pretty strong in coconut flavour and doesn't taste like shit. It's made by Wray.

[Tri2Cook]

I made a sort of coconut gomme using a 2:1 syrup of sugar and coconut water combined with an equal amount of coconut milk and thickened/stabilized with Ticaloid 210S (a blend of xanthan and arabic gums, straight arabic or locust bean gum would probably work fine but the arabic/xanthan blend helps keep the fat in suspension longer). It wasn't as sweet or as thick as Coco Lopez but it had a nice flavor with some added body compared to a regular syrup. I wish I'd thought to try it in a Pina Colada. I may have to make another batch...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Why not use some of the coconut meat from your previous experiments, together with the coconut water? If you blend that with pineapple and rum you should get a really nice pina colada.

Coconut oil is a complety different product. It's a fat so I am afraid that you are going to get a greasy mouthfeel but not the body or flavor that you are looking for.

It was worth a try. As I expected the pressure extracted coconut did not have much remaining taste. I pureed the coconut and the last of the pineapple (about half a dozen pieces) with the last of the pineapple juice (3 oz), four oz Barbancourt, a splash of the coconut juice, last of the can of Coco Lopez, two dashes of bitters (because I went out and bought some), and processed with a lot of ice (no point in measuring this time).

"Not good," as Captain Jack would say.

Every sip has to be chewed. Could be a little sweeter and less salty, but the main problem is the texture. I bought some virgin coconut oil that I intend to try, but I thought not worth wasting it on this. Some lime would have been nice too, but again, not worth wasting it.

At least I've had my fiber for the week.

Edit: pina colada should not be salty, this is ridiculous.

Edited September 6, 2013 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If truth be told, the last concoction made my tummy hurt. But I am back at it again with a new pineapple (Dole, this time). Tonight's recipe:

pineapple juice 2 1/2 oz

Coco Lopez 2 oz

coconut oil 1/2 oz

juice of 1/2 lime

2 dashes Angostura

Barbancourt 2 oz

ice

I'd say not bad, but not quite as good as post #26. The main fault tonight was too much lime. It was about the same amount of lime juice, yet double the proportion. I'm also not at all sure about the bitters, but trying to keep an open mind. I think the sweetness would have been about right without the lime. As is, needs more Coco Lopez.

Even with the added coconut oil the drink was not at all greasy. According to wikipedia coconut oil melts at 76 deg F (24 deg C) so this is not surprising.

Edited September 9, 2013 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Best yet to my taste:

pineapple juice 2 1/2 oz

Coco Lopez 3 oz

coconut oil 1 oz

lime juice 5 ml

Barbancourt 4 oz

ice

The truely observant will notice I omitted the Angostura. (But I put Angostura on my pizza.) Another difference, I strained the mixture into the glass. It's also hotter and more humid here tonight.

I'm leaning more toward dark rum for pina coladas. For future research I'd like to try some Lemon Hart Demerara 151, which is what I used to use, but I've not bought Lemon Hart since the 1970's and I don't see it on the local shelves. Are there any other 151 proof dark rums that folks could recommend?

Meanwhile I'm enjoying what I have in front of me. Did I mention this was good?

Edit: I believe my only choice locally is Gosling's Black Seal 151. Is this any good?

Edited September 11, 2013 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I repeated the above recipe, omitting the lime juice altogether, adding a dash of Angostura, and reducing the coconut oil to 1/2 oz. Very good. My only complaint is it could have used more rum! I think I prefer my pina coladas without any lime at all.

For anyone following along at home, I have not been idle since last I posted: I made up a pina colada with the above recipe, but doubled the coconut oil to 2 oz. When the mixture was cooled the coconut oil solidified in big disgusting chunks, in a thin, vile liquid. That I drank only because it contained a lot of expensive Barbancourt. A little coconut oil goes a long way.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The weather here once again is warm and humid. I turned the air conditioning on. And I bought a pineapple. In The Essential Cocktail, The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks, Dale Degroff gives a pina colada recipe using heavy cream, as well as Coco Lopez. Just for fun I dropped the 1/2 oz coconut oil from my previous version and added 1/2 oz of heavy cream.

Here's what I used tonight:

Busted Barrel 4 oz

(Somehow it sounds more temperant to say 4 oz rum than to say 1/2 cup rum for a cocktail.)

Coco Lopez 3 oz

fresh pineapple juice 3 oz (maybe more like 3 1/2 oz)

heavy cream 1/2 oz

2 dashes Angostura, then 2 dashes more that actually went in the drink

ice

Not bad. Sweetness is about right, however the drink is way too diluted. Too much ice. I also feel the cream does not add much besides cosmetics, coconut oil worked better. I've come to the conclusion that lime does not belong in my pina coladas, though I think I'll stick with bitters for a while. They add something.

I also think it would have been nicer had I pressure infused the rum with pineapple, and added some dark rum as well. But as I said, not bad.

[Rafa]

Last night at Donna in Brooklyn my bartender asked if I would like to try the house spin on a Piña Colada. Without feeling much enthusiasm, I replied sure, why not.

What I got was this:

Piña Colada (Beer)

by Matt, Donna, Brooklyn, NY.

2 oz Stout, Left Hand Milk Stout

3/4 oz Coconut cream

3/4 oz Pineapple juice

1/2 oz Demerara Rum, El Dorado 5

1/2 oz Jamaican rum, Smith & Cross

1 spg Mint (as garnish)

Shake, strain over one long ice shard in a Collins, garnish with slapped mint sprig, serve with straw.

My notes: Amazing. You wouldn't guess there was beer in it, but the stout adds a silky mouthfeel and malty/chocolate notes. Great rum combo. Best Colada I've had.

Their house coconut cream was cut with a lot of coconut milk, so it wasn't overly rich or sweet at all.

Can't wait to have another one.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Rafa (log)

[EvergreenDan]

Blah blah lopez blah colada blah pineapple blah blah stout S&C bl... Wait, what? I'd drink that!

[Rafa]

Blah blah lopez blah colada blah pineapple blah blah stout S&C bl... Wait, what? I'd drink that!

The rum's definitely the dominant flavor, followed by the milk/malt from the beer and a bit of the pineapple/coconut combo on the swallow.

[Monkeyleg]

This may sound dumb, but I was a beer drinker all my life, and never paid much attention to "fancy" drinks.

 

 

I'm going to be traveling to another city soon to see a friend. We're going to meet at my hotel for a bit, then head out for entertainment. She mentioned a few weeks ago that she had a craving for a pina colada. That gave me the idea to have some ingredients ready and make one up for her on the spot when she arrives. I think she'd get a kick out of that.

 

I have no experience with such drinks. With it being a hotel room and all, I won't have any facilities for doing much more than combining a couple of containers. 

 

I see my options as buying something like Bacardi Pina Colada in the large bottle with the rum already in it, buying a pina colada mix and adding rum, or maybe buying a couple of pina coladas without ice at the hotel bar the night before, keeping them cold, then adding ice and serving them to her that afternoon. 

 

I don't know if a pina colada from the bar can sit refrigerated overnight and still taste fresh the next day, so I don't know if that's an option. I don't know if the Barcadi or Captain Morgan in-the-bottle-with-rum pina colada's are good or bad, and a I don't know which mix if any are any good.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any replies.

[scamhi]

not a drink to mix on the spot.

you need rum, cream of coconut and pineapple juice

ice and a blender

 

Find a good cocktail bar nearby and get it made fresh.

[Adam George]

The piña Colada is a blended drink that benefits from decent ingredients and being served and consumed immediately.

Meet up and go out for a drink. You won't seal the deal with a half arsed attempt with premixes.

[EvergreenDan]

The Pina Colada doesn't have to be blended, although a Painkiller is probably a better non-blended drink with similar ingredients. It could be made in a hotel room, but you need a way to shake it.

 

It does sound like a pain though. Get to town. Buy juice ingredients and something to shake in and a can opener, buy booze, get ice from hotel, make drinks. Clean up sticky mess.

[Adam George]

If a newbie fumbled their way through making Piña Coladas in a stuffy hotel room for me, I can assure you there would be no sticky mess to clean up: I'd be off to find me a nice young Flannagan, stat.

[Monkeyleg]

What is a "Flannagan"?