If you have read my article about the very recommendable Banksy Cocktail you will have noticed my extensive remarks on the combination of pineapple and coconut, which was a very important one for the history of cocktails and, of course, especially for the Piña Colada. However, although the Piña Colada is still the first association you’ll get from the triad of rum, pineapple and coconut (and will probably always be), there are of course many possibilities to use those ingredients differently. For example you can combine them in a very simple yet very elegant way, like today’s cocktail, the Cofresí, will doubtlessly demonstrate.

The Cofresí is nothing else but a kind of special Old Fashioned. But I will come back to the actual design and preparation later on. At first I’d like to offer a little background information which explains what my thoughts were when making this drink and also what the name of the cocktail is about. There are a lot of spirits which are qualitatively absolutely convincing, especially when having them neat. Such spirits of the often so called “sipping segment” in my opinion do not always call for a cocktail but if you choose to mix them, you definitely want to mix them in a drink that is as appropriate as possible to their nature. Of course you could mix them up in sours, fizzes or punches, but in such drinks their unique character inevitably moves a little further into the background, as they become only a sound in a whole orchestra (although it still might be the main sound. This does not mean that you cannot use such spirits in that kind of cocktail, far from that! I also use them in a sour or so from time to time. But my conscience is best if I opted for a rather less complicated drink like an Old Fashioned, a Negroni or a Julep. Sometimes a less of preparation is ultimately more.

I repeat again: this is not a cancellation to all the Sours and Co and needless to say that it does not mean there are only inferior spirits inside of a Sour, of course not! Anyway, also an Old Fashioned can be presented in proper style, so hardly anyone thinks about the simple preparation or the low level of ingredients. Or did you had an opposite association when first looking at the pictures of today’s article? Probably not.

The Cofresí consists primarily of the Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy Original Dark, which I just introduced the day before yesterday. It is mixed with only one and a half bar spoon of simple syrup and two dashes of The Bitter Truth Spiced Chocolate Bitters and there you have it: the Cofresí. Well, one thing is indeed still to be mentioned because you may ask where the coconut comes from. The solution is a quite elegant one and yet also impressive: it comes from an ice sphere made of coconut water. Whether the coconut water is freshly taken from the nut or from a bottle or box is up to you. What is crucial here is that the Cofresí cocktail plays a little with the aspect of time. For the longer you drink it, the more intense the coconut flavor becomes. If such a degree of unpredictability is too much of the good for you, you can of course just add a splash of coconut water to the drink, but I like it – especially with rather simple cocktails – if you can play a bit with aspects such as time, as it also happens for example in the Mr. Hyde’s Fixer Upper where the smoke aroma can be intensified by leaving it in the bottle for a little longer.

The name Cofresí, by the way, is an allusion to Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano, a pirate and folk hero of Puerto Rico, who is supposed to have been something like the Robin Hood of Caribbean buccaneering. His name to me just seemed quite appropriate for an Old Fashioned style drink because he is the oldest historical source for the liquid combination of rum, pineapple and coconut which he is supposed to have created as a mixture to raise the morale of his team. And because he was a pirate, of course, my cocktail cannot miss the gold, which is why I made a small “nugget” by spraying a coconut praline with golden food coloring. Served in a martini glass without a stem which rests on a coconut half filled with crushed ice, the Caribbean buccaneering flair does not take long to catch you.

Recipe:

6 cl Plantation Pineapple Stiggins’ Fancy Original Dark
1½ barspoon sugar syrup
2 Dashes The Bitter Truth Spiced Chocolate Bitters

1 ice sphere made from frozen coconut water

Preparation: Mix all liquid ingredients in the glass and stir without ice, then carefully place the ice sphere made from coconut water into the middle of your glass.

Glass: Martini glass without a stem on a coconut half filled with crushed ice

Garnish: Coconut praline sprayed with golden food coloring

Buying sources: At specialized retailers or online.