A delicious mixology match made in a very chilled out paradise
Yes, real men drink umbrella drinks (or really confident men do, at least). I don’t know what it is about a frozen alcoholic drink with a tiny umbrella garnish that made people consider these types of drinks “lady drinks,” but I’m here to let you know that any drink, regardless of its appearance, is for anyone who wants to drink it.
And, in the spirit of summer being upon us in the approaching months, I’m going to embark on an adventure through three of the most popular frozen umbrella drinks: margaritas, piña coladas, and daiquiris. For the best possible reading experience, imagine yourself on the beach, with your toes in the ocean, sipping on a frozen drink with a tiny umbrella.
We’ll start with margaritas because almost everyone loves a good margarita. The history of the margarita is quite complicated, and there isn’t one solid origin story, but I’ll skip to the relevant part: the creation of a margarita machine by Mariano Martinez in his Dallas restaurant in the 1970s.
The machine itself was essentially a hybrid soft-serve ice cream machine that was inspired by a 7-Eleven slurpee machine, but the result was something with a far better consistency than a blender could ever create. The classic frozen margarita recipe, from theslowroasteditalian.com, calls for tequila, Triple Sec, lime juice, simple syrup, and lime juice and coarse salt as a garnish.
Now, onward to Puerto Rico, where the piña colada was born. Again, this is a drink with a complicated history. As the story goes, the year was 1954 at The Caribe Hilton, a luxury hotel in San Juan. One bartender at the hotel’s Beachcombers Bar was supposedly tasked with creating a drink reminiscent of all the island’s flavors.
Another bartender at Beachcombers Bar claimed a coconut-cutters strike prevented him from pouring his normal rum-cream of coconut-crushed ice drink into a coconut, so he had to find an alternative method, which was pouring it into a hollow pineapple, and it was a hit. The classic piña colada recipe, via cookingforcurls.com, calls for light rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice, in addition to the pineapple wedge and cherry garnish.
Last but certainly not least, let’s talk about the daiquiri, which was created in Cuba and also has a diverse history. The creator of the daiquiri is generally known as Jennings Cox in the time after the Spanish-American war. He ran out of gin while hosting friends, so he switched to rum, which was widely available. He also added mineral water, lemons, sugar, and crushed ice and decided to call it a daiquiri because rum sour just didn’t sound good enough.
The drink didn’t really take off in the United States until the late 1940s and ‘50s, and the recipe held until the ‘90s, when fruity drinks became all the rage, and the drink has received more than a handful of moderations since then. However, the classic recipe, from thespruce.com, is white rum, simple syrup, lime juice, and crushed ice.
My discussion wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t offer some insight into tiny umbrellas, so here it goes. There are two origin stories that both involve California tiki bars in the mid-20th century.
One bartender was supposedly attempting to bring paradise to his patrons via tiny umbrellas, and the other was trying to lure women into the bars with said umbrellas. I’ll let you decide on your favorite origin story.
So, if someone tries to give you a hard time because your frozen drink features a tiny umbrella, just mention one of the tiny umbrella origin stories above, and remind them that tiny umbrellas signify paradise and relaxation (or they’re supposed to attract women; whatever floats your boat).
It’s almost summertime, and what better way to beat the heat than with a tasty frozen drink?