After the Luau

The other day, we made a caramelized pineapple syrup by cooking chunks of pineapple on the stovetop with a little bit of sugar, then combining that with more sugar and water to make it into a usable syrup. The syrup was good, but after a little bit of experimentation, we decided that adding some rum to fortify our syrup and turn it into a liqueur would make it even more versatile and would also extend its shelf life. The liqueur was delicious, but it is very much a work in progress and we’ll have to make a few more batches before the recipe makes it to prime time here on this site.

Naturally, we used the liqueur that we had to make some pineapple cocktails that didn’t use an additional pineapple juice with great results and we couldn’t wait weeks (or longer) to start to share them. Fortunately we have Plantation’s pineapple-infused rum to fall back on. This cocktail starts with pineapples and rum and is an infusion, rather than a liqueur like the concoction we cooked up. It is not sweet, but it does have an intense pineapple flavor and the essence of the sweetness of the tropical fruit.

This particular cocktail combines Jamaican rum, Plantation Pineapple Rum, orange liqueur, Benedictine, lime juice and simple syrup for a cocktail that has a noticeable fruitiness from the Jamaican and pineapple rums (much more than you would expect from a cocktail with little fruit juice), some subtle spices from the Benedictine and just a hint of both orange and lime. We used the Clement Creole Shrubb in ours, but Dry Curacao also works very well here. Our DIY pineapple liqueur was sweet enough that we could omit the simple syrup, but you’ll want it to help smooth all the other flavors together. This is an excellent sipper and a good choice to wind down the evening with.

After the Luau
1 1/2 oz Jamaican Rum (we used Appleton)
1 oz Plantation Pineapple Rum
1/4 oz Benedictine
1/4 oz Clement Creole Shrubb or Dry Curacao
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass or cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake vigorously until well-chilled, then strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with pieces of caramelized pineapple*

*To caramelize pineapple, dip a chunk of pineapple in coarse sugar. Hit the sugar with a blowtorch until caramelized.