Pina Coloda Day

The Pina Colada has a long and noble history, both as a mixological standard, and as the heart of a song about not giving up on love, just because you think it's gotten stale.

The name for the drink comes from the basis of its creation, Pina means "Pineapple" and Colada means "Strained." This drink is a delicious mix of all the things that speak to the Caribbean and tropical locales, with the pineapple juice mixed together with a rich coconut cream, spiked up with just a bit of white rum into the mix.

Is there anything that speaks more of warm white sand beaches and beautiful azure skies than a drink that was born on those same shores?

As befits a drink born of tropic fruits from tropical shores, stirred with a drink distilled from the rich sugar born drink favored by merchants and pirates alike, the history of the Pina Colada is steeped is mystery, folklore, and conflict.

The first and oldest story of the drink is born in the Caribbean waters around Peurto Rico, upon the ship of one Roberto Cofresi, Captain of a crew of the foulest batch of pirates to sail the seas in the early 19th century. While this is the earliest known origin of the drink, used to boost the morale of the crew, the recipe was lost for a time after his death in 1825.

It wasn't until 1954 that the drink was to find itself rediscovered by one Ricardo Garcia, a mixologist born in Barcelona and working at a Hilton. This story tells that it was discovered as a series of fortunately unfortunate events, starting with a strike of the coconut cutters union that led to a shortage of the favored cup of the resorts favored drink, the Coco-Loco.

Without a freshly macheted coconut shell to serve it in, Ricardo adapted to the circumstances in front of him by presenting the drink in a hollowed out pineapple instead. Thus, according to this bit of lore, the Pina Colada was reborn.