Plaidophile

Once upon a time, cocktails were very simple, elegant things with only a couple of key flavors combined in a balanced manner. For example, the classic martini (gin, vermouth, and an olive) and the classic daíquiri (rum, lime, simple syrup) are favorites that will last forever.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, mixed drinks started to become these ridiculously cumbersome things which involved blending and puréeing and so on, and from the 60s to the 80s we started to even see classic cocktails be ruined by this trend (now "martini" seems to mean "any horrible concoction in a martini glass," and a daíquiri might as well be a strawberry smoothie).

With that in mind, I looked at the mixed drink which probably started it all — the piña colada — and sought to reinvent it as if it were a classic cocktail. I served several of these at a small party last night, and they were a success.

The ingredients:

• 1 shot light rum
• 1 shot coconut juice (not coconut milk or cream)
• 3 chunks pineapple
• The juice of half a lime
• A dash of simple syrup

Combine the above ingredients in a shaker along with ice. Shake until the pineapple is pulverized and everything is thoroughly mixed. Either strain it into a chilled cocktail glass, or include the ice into a larger glass.

(Unfortunately, later on I ran out of rum and coconut juice, and tried substituting cachaça and coconut milk, which, as it turns out, doesn't work particularly well. Probably more from the cachaça, which I hadn't tried before, and didn't realize that it has a much fruitier head than rum.)