Well, today I don’t really have much to say or to tell. I just have a cocktail, which I would like to present here (ok, that might sound a bit like business as usual after all). A few days ago I received guests and knew that they were not really experienced when it comes to spirits or cocktails in general. Nevertheless, I was asked for an “exotic” cocktail.

Well, depending on who is asking you, “exotic” naturally can have completely different meanings. For many, an herbaceous, spicy and bitter drink such as for example the Six Inch Gold Blade may be an extremely exotic representative. When my guests were asking, however, “exotic” actually meant what the word in a “cocktail common sense” usually means: South Seas, tropics and sunshine. So I tried out a recipe which I got to know through Beachbum Berry’s recommendable book “Sippin’ Safari”. The drink is called Pina Paradise and was first offered as “number one on the sip parade” at Club Luau in Miami in 1955. Compared with the Californian West, the Polynesian-pop culturally exaggerated Tiki wave reached the East (and there especially Florida) only slightly belatedly, but then also enjoyed great popularity there. And the Pina Paradise was a very popular drink on the spot.

By name, one may think of the Pina Colada for a moment, but – as most people know – only the Spanish term for pineapple is what both names have in common. The Pina Paradise is exactly what someone expects when thinking of an exotic cocktail: fruity, refreshing, tasty and yet with a certain depth. Moreover, it is also the perfect opportunity to present a beautiful, white Rhum Agricole to people who would otherwise certainly be overwhelmed by the rhum agricole genre (here I chose the Clément Canne Bleue). Well, since I wanted to keep it short today, here’s the recipe.

Recipe “Pina Paradise”:

2.25 cl Puerto Rican Golden Rum
2.25 cl unmatured Martinique Rhum Agricole
1.5 cl lime juice
1.5 cl grapefruit juice
1.5 cl orange juice
0.75 cl sugar syrup
2 pineapple cubes (approx. 2.5 cm)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
6 drops almond extract

Preparation: Mix all ingredients in a blender without ice until the pineapple is liquefied. Finally, shake the content of the blender vigorously on ice in a shaker and pour into a pre-cooled glass filled with crushed ice.

Glass: Tiki Mug (originally a hollowed-out pineapple)

Garnish: pineapple leaves, dried orange slice, brandied cherries (original recipe: none)

Buying sources: At specialized retailers or online