Intro

“I want a goddamn Piña Colada”

~ Me…all the time

I made this drink randomly when I had a friend over and she noticed a pineapple sitting in the corner and yelled (quite suddenly) that “we should make a drink with that!” Obviously, I acquiesced and happened to find a couple cans of full-fat coconut milk in my pantry . So for a real Piña Colada you use coconut cream, which is ~ 4 times heavier/thicker than full-fat coconut milk, and since all the grocery stores were closed I just used full-fat coconut milk. If you decide to use coconut cream I would use a quarter of the coconut milk called for and slowly build up to half the amount if it’s not enough for you. On this fateful night I also realized I didn’t have any rum, so I figured mezcal would do the trick...and it did! The smokiness of the mezcal went really well with the pineapple and coconut milk. This would also go well with a lightly aged tequila (e.g. Reposado or a light Añejo) that’s NOT Casamigos (they use too much vanilla flavor so it’d taste weird)!

Most people think of Piña Coladas as a frozen drink — I make this one just blended and top with crushed ice but you can freeze your fresh pineapple and/or add ice into your blender to make it frozen if you want. The reason I make it blended and not frozen is because I like my Piña Coladas with fresh grated nutmeg on top and fresh grated nutmeg just doesn’t mix into the drink as well if it’s frozen. I include pineapple juice as a way to adjust for sweetness without adding straight up sugar because it’s difficult to control for how ripe and sweet your pineapple will be, just FYI.

What You'll Need

[My whole/uncut, fresh pineapple weighed in at 3.65 lbs and made ~ 6 drinks]

For each (non-frozen) cocktail:

1 cup fresh pineapple chunks (~ 1” cubes)
2 oz full-fat coconut milk (or ½ - 1 oz coconut cream)
2 oz pineapple juice (use more if you want it to be sweeter)
½ oz fresh lime juice
2½ oz mezcal (I used Del Maguey’s Vida Mezcal)
Crushed ice*
Garnish: fresh-grated nutmeg (or nutmeg powder if you don’t have whole nutmeg) and pineapple leaves

* Crushed ice is recommended but use regular ice cubes if you don’t have any; you can also just blend some ice cubes in a blender/food processor beforehand to make crushed ice

Instructions

If you want a non-frozen Mezcal-colada:

Blend the pineapple chunks, coconut milk, pineapple juice, and lime juice in a blender or food processor until smooth
Pour this mixture into a cocktail shaker with ice, a sprinkle of fresh-grated nutmeg, and the mezcal and shake well until very cold; taste here and if it’s not sweet enough add more pineapple juice
Strain into a glass over fresh ice cubes OR top with crushed ice if you have and garnish with more fresh-grated nutmeg and some pineapple leaves

If you want a frozen Mezcal-colada:

(I would freeze the pineapple chunks overnight)
Blend the frozen pineapple chunks, coconut milk, pineapple juice, 1 cup ice, and lime juice in a blender or food processor until smooth
Once smooth, directly pour the mezcal and sprinkle your nutmeg into the blender or food processor and blend on low to combine everything
Strain into a glass (recommend a Hurricane glass for this version) and garnish with more fresh-grated nutmeg and some pineapple leaves