Ah, just when we started slowing down on cocktail posts, it’s Mixology Monday again. Just another excuse to keep mixing drinks. Such is life…..and life is good.

This month, the theme comes from Thiago of the excellent Bartending Notes blog. Here it is:

Let’s bring the king of fruits back! After being canned, mixed with all sorts of sugary liquids and blended into… some 80s dreadful cocktails, the pineapple needs more respect! Once a symbol of hospitality, the King of Fruits might be know misunderstood. One of the greatest non-citrus souring agents, used for crazy garnish ideas, infusions, old gum syrup flavoring, the pineapple is a fruit to be reckoned. Be in a tiki cocktails, an old school classic like the Algonquin, a crazy flavor pairing or just mixed in a delicious Verdita, get creative and make a cocktail using any part of this delicious, juicy fruit or share you favorite pineapple cocktail with us!

Pineapple, a perfect choice for some of the longest (and hopefully the laziest) days of the year. And as happy tiki drinkers, we enjoy plenty of pineapple here at the farm (also great in dessert- see here). And we just happened to have a pineapple cocktail we wanted to check out.

Normally we get a bit “experimental” for Mixology Monday, but we recently read about a pineapple cocktail called the El Presidente and put it on our list of cocktails to try. Funny thing, normally an “El Presidente” refers to a rum-based martini variant, and it is something of a classic. But we also found references to this other “El Presidente”, basically a daiquiri with pineapple juice and grenadine replacing sugar. A decent drink, with a bit more complexity and that nice foamy texture from the pineapple, but one that could be tweaked a bit.

For the Nuevo Presidente, we chose an aged rum (we used El Dorado 5 Year, but use an aged rum you like) with some funk to add more flavor. Pineapple loves darker rum, so that was an easy fix. The other change we made was replacing the grenadine, which doesn’t do much in the original. We tried different bitters, Chambord and crème de cassis to add some kick and depth. And in the end a few dashes of cassis added to the completed cocktail was the clear winner. The cassis sinks to the bottom of the drink and adds a layer of color, while offering a distinct deep berry bite to the last sip. A nice touch and a very good way to riff on a  daiquiri. This is an easy drink to make and enjoy, and it will appear a few more times this summer at the farm.

So thanks to Thiago for hosting this month and to Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut for keeping the monthly party rolling.

The Nuevo Presidente:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. aged rum (El Dorado 5 Year Old)
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 3 – 4 dashes  crème de cassis

Assemble:

1. Add the rum, pineapple juice and lime juice to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass, coupé or flute. Add the crème de cassis to the drink and let it settle to the bottom of the glass. Serve.