It’s the quintessential beach vacation cocktail. It’s an icon of the 1980s. It’s a cocktail with a soundtrack all of its own. It’s the Piña Colada, a blend of white rum, coconut cream, and fresh pineapple juice. And today, July 10, is National Piña Colada Day, so take some time to raise a glass to this classic drink.
Plenty of people love a Piña Colada — and if you’re one of them, then cheers to you and enjoy yourself — but for many cocktail fans, it’s a bit too sweet and too creamy for regular drinking. The basic flavor combination of rum, pineapple, and coconut is a classic for a reason though. So in celebration of the day, the bartending team at L’Avenue at Saks restaurant in New York have come up with their own modern take on this drink that they’ve named the Tradewinds.
The drink is inspired by the Hawaiian upbringing of bartender Meg Drinkovich, and is uses a larger ratio of rum than the original recipe for more body, plus lime juice for zing and fun additions like vanilla syrup and passionfruit whipped cream for something special.
How to make a Tradewinds
Ingredients:
- 0.5 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
- 0.75 oz pineapple juice
- 1 oz unsweetened coconut cream
- 1 oz vanilla syrup
- 2 oz San Zanj Haitian Rum Clairin (an unaged blend of rhum agricole and clairin from Haiti)
Method:
Add ingredients to shaker tin and shake well, then strain into a stemless glass with ice. Top with passionfruit whipped cream and finish with toasted coconut flakes.
To make the vanilla syrup, measure out equal parts of sugar and water by weight and blend together, then add a sliced vanilla bean to 1 liter of syrup. Leave to sit for 48 hours before straining out the vanilla bean.
To make the passionfruit whipped cream, mix equal parts of passionfruit liqueur and heavy whipping cream by volume, then use a whipped cream dispenser to make a frothy addition for the top of the drink.
