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Pina Colada

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the Irish Colada

March 10, 2018 by Natalie Leave a Comment

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

St. Patrick’s Day is hardly a celebration without a little imbibing. I wanted to come up with something green without being cheesy (no green beers please!) so I put together this Irish Colada, a spin on the classic Pina Colada but with Irish whiskey, matcha, and banana. This Irish Colada is perfect for celebrating the Emerald Isle and a cocktail I will be drinking long after St. Patrick’s Day comes and goes.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

Irish Colada, serves 1

1 1/2 oz. Irish whiskey (I used Jameson)

1/2 oz. banana liqueur

1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice

1 1/2 oz. matcha coconut syrup

pineapple wedge, pineapple leaves, and toasted coconut, for garnish

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

First, make your matcha coconut syrup. I used equal parts (1 can each) of coconut cream and coconut milk. In a saucepan combine them with 2 teaspoons of matcha powder, whisking until combined over low-medium heat. I used a matcha whisk to help incorporate the matcha better. Let cool and store in a jar or bottle in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

I decided to make this drink shaken instead of frozen to mimic more of an iced matcha latte feel. Additionally, shaking it also doesn’t sacrifice the gorgeous green hue of the drink. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, and strain over cracked or crushed ice in a highball or serving vessel of your choice. These adorable flamingo glasses are from my friend Meg over at Love & Victory. Finally, garnish your drink with a pineapple wedge, pineapple leaves, and toasted coconut. I toasted some coconut flakes with my kitchen torch but you can also do it over the stove.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

The thing I miss the most about working in a tiki bar is an elaborately garnished drink. Each drink that went out was like a little piece of art. We had dozens of different straws, stirrers, and even little pipe cleaner animals! These sparkly palm tree stirrers remind me of those days and are from the Palm Springs Style Shop. I picked them up at the store while I was in Palm Springs for Modernism Week but they are also available here online if you need some fun garnishes at home!

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

Overall I really love how this Irish Colada came together. Whiskey and coconut complement each other surprisingly well and it was fun incorporating Irish whiskey into a tropical cocktail. The banana liqueur adds a touch more fruitiness and it’s one of my favorite ingredients to use with coconut in cocktails. In addition to the vibrant color, using matcha also adds health benefits to this drink. It’s packed with antioxidants/vitamins and is known to boost metabolism, relax the mind, increase concentration, and enhance the mood among many other things! Sounds like the perfect ingredient to pair with mood enhancing alcohol, don’t you think 😉 ? Matcha also adds sweet, vegetal, grassy notes that complement the other ingredients in this Irish Colada perfectly.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

Do you have any special St. Patrick’s Day traditions? My mother always used to make corned beef and cabbage. I think my new tradition will be enjoying a few of these Irish Coladas. They certainly make the perfect boozy dessert. If you decide to make them, be sure to chime in on the comments below and tag a pic on Instagram using #ALinmyglass so I can see. I’d love to hear about what you’re doing this St. Paddy’s Day. Cheers everyone! xo

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Irish Colada

Filed Under: Classic Cocktails, Holiday Cocktails, Sweet, Tiki Cocktails, Whiskey, Whiskey Cocktails Tagged With: classic cocktails, cocktails, coconut, craft cocktails, holiday cocktails, Irish Whiskey, matcha, Pina Colada, pineapple, St. Patricks Day, tiki cocktails, Whiskey

Lemongrass Pina Colada with Bai

July 10, 2017 by Natalie 4 Comments

If you’ve been following my blog over the past year, you know my favorite cocktail is a piña colada. That’s why I’m excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with Bai for National Piña Colada Day to bring you something delicious with their Molokai Coconut flavor. It turns out Bai is just as crazy about coconut as me!

What’s the great part about using their Cocofusion flavors in your drinks? They are super low in calories and sugar (only 5 calories & 1 gram of sugar per serving) and are filled with antioxidant goodness. We’re basically using this to add coconut flavor but taking out the guilt, which is A-OK with me! Any objections? I’ve paired this wonderful fruit juice with homemade lemongrass syrup, pineapple, and rum to bring you a fun and interesting variation on the much loved classic, the piña colada.


Lemongrass Pina Colada

1 1/2 oz. white rum

1 1/2 oz. Bai Molokai Coconut (any of their other cocofusions will work too)

3/4 oz. pineapple juice

3/4 oz. lemongrass syrup

For the lemongrass syrup, first remove the leaves on your lemongrass until you’re left with the white core (about 5 stalks). Chop it up and add it to a pot with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water.

Bring to a slight bubble and then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Let cool on stove for a few hours and then strain out lemongrass.

Now to make the cocktail! Add all your ingredients to your blender pitcher, add ice, and blend on smoothie setting. It’s that easy! Pour into your serving vessel and garnish with a pineapple wedge, pineapple leaves, and a piece of cooked lemongrass.

I love how all the flavors compliment each other perfectly. The replacement of coconut cream for the Bai Molokai Coconut, makes the drink less creamy but doesn’t sacrifice flavor. The lemongrass is sweet and fragrant and blends together with the coconut to make a very crisp and refreshing drink. We couldn’t celebrate National Piña Colada Day without a giveaway, so head over to my Instagram for a chance to win 2 cases of Bai. All you have to do in order to be entered to win is make sure you’re following me @arseniclace, @drinkbai, and tag a friend in the comments you want to share a piña colada with! I will reach out to the winner on Instagram on 7/15. Cheers, good luck and thank you for reading this sponsored post here on Arsenic Lace.

Filed Under: Classic Cocktails, Cocktails, Giveaway, Rum, Sponsored, Summer Cocktails, Tiki Tagged With: bai, coconut, giveaway, National Pina Colada Day, Pina Colada, pineapple, recipes, rum, sponsored, summer cocktails, tiki

Summer Sandia Cocktail

July 8, 2016 by Natalie Leave a Comment

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

This Sunday is National Pina Colada Day, and what better way to celebrate with some Rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream.

It has been the official drink of Puerto Rico since 1978 but its origins are much older. The modern Pina Colada depends on coconut cream being used as an ingredient, which doesnt appear until 1948 when Don Ramon Lopez Irizarry creates the well-known Coco Lopez product. This is where, like most cocktails, the trail gets a little bit muddy. The Pina Colada has had its share of claimants and accounts of similar drinks that date back to the 17th century.

The first actual written instance of Pina Colada attached to a cocktail dates back to 1922 in Travel Magazine. It descibes a drink with fresh pineapple juice, lime, sugar, ice, and Bacardi Rum. This is what we now like to call a Pineapple Daiquiri, which I enjoy on my shifts at Dutch Kills quite frequently.

A few bartenders have quarreled over the rights to the drink:

  • The Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where long-serving bartender, Ramón “Monchito” Marrero Perez claims to have created the drink on August 16, 1954, utilizing the recently released Coco López cream of coconut.
  • Ricardo García, another bartender at the Caribe, who claims to have come up with the recipe as a work-around during the coconut cutters’ union strike of 1954. It sucks when a co-worker trys to take credit for your drink, doesnt it?
  • Ramón Portas Mingot’s 1963 story stating that he came up with the drink while working at the Barrachina Restaurant in Old San Juan.

I want to thank all of them, as we may never know, just like the Mai Tai battle of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic (I vote for Don). Let’s celebrate the history of this drink in all of its frosty, fruity, deliciousness glory with a variation of our own. I’m celebraing with my cocktail the Summer Sandia which I created for Women & Whiskies. I know what you’re thinking, a whiskey colada? I’m here to change your mind with this American Whiskey spin on the classic Pina Colada.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

Summer Sandia

1 ½ oz. Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
½ oz. Absinthe
1 ½ oz. Pineapple Juice
1 ½ oz. Coconut Cream (equal parts coconut cream and coconut milk)
7 watermelon cubes
Fresh Mint
Crushed Ice

Add pineapple juice to your mixing tin with 5 watermelon cubes and a handful of mint leaves, and muddle. Add the rest of your ingredients, dry shake, and strain into your serving vessel. Add crushed ice and garnish with watermelon and a mint sprig.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

Filed Under: Cocktails, Summer Cocktails, Tiki, Whiskey Tagged With: cocktails, craft cocktails, National Pina Colada Day, Pina Colada, recipes, summer, summer cocktails, Summer Sandia Cocktail, tiki, watermelon, Whiskey, Wild Turkey, Women & Whiskies

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My name is Natalie Jacob and I'm a bartender, author and beverage + creative consultant drinking, honky tonkin and making a home in Nashville, TN. Learn more ->

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