It's that time again, Happy Aloha Friday and I have a brand new Koloa Rum Cocktail for you all today. This is my Island Dreamsicle Cocktail. One sip and you will be dreaming about an Hawaiian island vacation. At least I do when I drink this cocktail. Thank you to Koloa Rum Company for sending me a bottle of their Kaua'i coconut rum to sample and make this cocktail!
I have been experimenting with new Koloa Rum Cocktails for this year. I had so much fun creating all 7 of those Koloa Rum Cocktails for Christmas time, that I have been testing and experimenting since. I have a bunch of new cocktails I will be sharing over the summer, and even though it is still only spring, I am dreaming of summer and our upcoming vacation to Hawaii. This is why I named this cocktail the Island Dreamsicle cocktail.
This Island Dreamsicle cocktail came about with one of those days where I had a few random items in my fridge and started to experiment with the cocktail. I wanted a piña colada or a daiquiri but the only items I had for it on hand were Koloa Kaua'i Coconut rum, pineapple juice, a lime and coconut milk. I didn't feel like blending it up so I put it all on ice and was pleasantly surprised. The coconut milk is from So Delicious, the kind that comes in the carton not the can. I always have vanilla and plain on hand to use in protein shakes and smoothies. I happened to have the vanilla this time and it was so good in the piña colada/daiquiri.
I love having Pineapple and Coconut as my "brand" because people from close friends to social media acquaintances and followers are always sending me pineapple and coconut stuff online. Tagging me in pics or sharing to one of my pages such as Facebook or Instagram. They all say whenever they see anything pineapple or coconut they immediately think of me. I guess that means I have branded well. A few months ago a Twitter friend tweeted a recipe for a pineapple coconut cocktail saying I would love it. It happened to be super similar to the pina colada/ daiquiri on the rocks that I had made.
I suppose that most piña colada type cocktails are pretty similar, not a whole lot to it, but sometimes the best cocktails, or any recipe for that matter, are best when kept simple. I can't always stay at simple though, I do like to add in more flavors or complexities to make it more than just a pineapple and coconut cocktail or piña colada. Depends on the mood I am in, how much effort I want to put into creating a cocktail or what ingredients I have on hand. Such as fresh juices. I happened to have freshly squeezed Cara Cara orange juice one day that I had used in creamsicle protein smoothies for my kids. I was rummaging through my fridge for something when I saw the juice and thought hey why not add it into my pina colada on the rocks?
When you add orange juice to a piña colada it turns it into a "Painkiller" cocktail. If you add other ingredients to it, you can name it whatever you want. Says me! Cocktail names are funny to me. You either name it something like " pineapple coconut cocktail" with a few of the ingredients in the name plus "cocktail" or they get names such as the Manhattan, Daiquiri, Screwdriver, Old Fashioned, Gimlet, Cosmopolitan etc. Doesn't say what is in them right away. Could be a cocktail named after the person who created it, or the type of liquor used or anything really. Naming cocktails is a funny thing. There are some cocktail names that are trademarked, some are classic names that you know what is in them such as a margarita or martini. Even though there are so many different variations of them. For me, I like sticking " on brand" as much as I can with my drinks. But naming this one " pineapple and coconut cocktail" would be too generic. Especially since most of the cocktails I make have either pineapple or coconut in them. Or both. So Island Dreamsicle cocktail it is!
I fell in love with using bitters in cocktails when I discovered the Tiki bitters I used in my Mele Kalikimaka Mai Tais over Christmas time. Bitters are becoming popular with a resurgence of craft cocktail creations and there are more and more different bitters flavors now than ever before. Bitters are flavor extracts made by infusing different flavors, herbs, flowers, spices etc in alcohol. Just as you would salt food to enhance flavors, bring out the "umami" in food, bitters added to cocktails, just a few drops, enhance the flavor of the cocktail and add more depth and complexity. Master mixologists and bartenders have been using bitters since pre-prohibition era and many made their own bitters. Tiki bitters just happen to be my favorite, because they are "on brand" for me and my pineapple and coconut island ways of recipe creation.
Island Dreamsicle Cocktail
Ingredients
- 2 ounces Koloa Rum
- 1 ounce fresh Cara Cara Orange Juice
- 1 ounce fresh Pineapple Juice
- ½ oz Orgeat
- 2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoon simple syrup optional
- 2-4 dashes Tiki Bitters
- Coconut Milk vanilla or plain -I use So Delicious carton brand, not canned
Garnish
- Thin Cara Cara Orange slice
- Thin Lime Slice
- Thin wedge of pineapple
- Sugar Cane swizzle sticks
- Pineapple Leaves
Instructions
- In a large cocktail glass fill with halfway with pellet or crushed ice. Place a lime slice then an orange slice against one side of the glass then fill glass with ice. Add the cocktail ingredients in order from the Koloa Coconut Rum to the bitters. Stir. Top with coconut milk. Top with garnishes. Serve. Slowly stir as you sip or stir the drink completely before sipping. Enjoy!
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