Koko Kanu 70 cl, 37.5% ABV - Jamaica Coconut Rum

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The cream of coconut is unpleasantly gloopy, while the coconut water is too subtle – it works in Godwin’s second version, because it’s a much shorter drink, but I can hardly taste it in Wilson’s drink.

All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. That said, Conigliaro’s recipe falls at the first hurdle in using cachaça instead of rum, which disqualifies it from the classic colada race.could not get it so bought some koko kanu , it is very nice , smooth , I like it lots of ice a double measure tall glass full fat coke 😀 😋.

There are two types of people in this world: those who admit to liking piña colada, and pretentious idiots. Fellow bartender Dale DeGroff says the trick to making a great piña colada is to use both light and dark rum, Moore goes for the golden kind, telling readers to use “a richer, more aged rum if you like the sunny flavour to show through”, or “a white rum if you prefer the coconut and pineapple to dominate” – which is exactly what Larousse Cocktails, Food52 and Jason Wilson of the Washington Post opt for. Food52 adds a spritz of lime juice and DeGroff adds Angostura bitters, which makes their piña coladas particularly refreshing, though you may not need either depending on the pineapple juice you use. Moore reckons “it’s not essential to use fresh fruit to make a decent piña colada, though it certainly adds to the drama if you do” so I try her recipe with tinned pineapple rings, and save the fresh stuff for Wilson’s recipe. I love the fact that it is so adaptable, have it with pineapple juice or just with some ice and cinnamon on its own!Works perfectly in summer cocktails but I just discovered on a rainy, slightly cold summer evening how nice it also works in a hot chocolate - definitely one to keep in mind for later in the year! I find the tinned pineapple rings too sweet and the fresh fruit distractingly acidic … and both rather fibrous. In any case, it seems a shame to use a mild-flavoured light rum – it has no chance against coconut and pineapple – but the dark one in DeGroff’s recipe feels too heavy for a drink that is crying out to be sipped on a sunlounger, so I’m going to use golden rum. Moore, Larousse and Godwin’s first version all use coconut milk, and Wilson and Godwin’s second an “elegant, cream-free version of the gaudy abomination for self-hating, lactose-intolerant cocktail pseuds”, coconut water, which the former claims gives the drink “a much lighter and more complex flavour”.

Victoria Moore hits the nail on the head in her book How to Drink: “At some point around the 1980s … piña colada stopped being a drink and became an excruciating razzmatazz of an event guaranteed to arrive at your table like a carnival float, in an obscenely large glass, decked with thrillingly garish paraphernalia such as a fuchsia paper parasol or six.It is fabulous for an elderly lady drinker like myself LOL ' I totally recommend - it tastes a bit like rum Chata . The piña colada: naff or not – and even if you are a fan, is it one of those drinks that’s strictly reserved for holidays? Even with a mixer or in a cocktail for someone, I'd give them this over Malibu, but I personally prefer to sip my rums neat, and for me this ranks as one of the easiest sipping rums.

My blender, despite bold claims of an ice function, is somewhat incompetent at breaking the stuff up, but I find a few stress-relieving whacks of a rolling pin works wonders (on the ice, not the blender, though sometimes I am sorely tempted) – and there really is no decent substitute. Moore perspicaciously observes that the thickness of the drink is crucial, describing crushed ice as the ideal, though without a sufficiently powerful blender, she suggests serving the drink in an ice-packed glass instead.That said, without the cream of coconut, the drink does require some sweetening if it is to mirror the flavour of the original – Wilson’s version is disappointingly thin in flavour in comparison with Godwin’s one with sugar syrup. Using enough ice to fill your glass to two-thirds, whizz in a blender until crushed, or place the ice in a clean tea towel and whack repeatedly with a rolling pin, rounders bat or similar, then put in a cocktail shaker. Also sign me up for newsletters so I can get special offers, recommendations, and expert advice to my inbox! It got a 5 star rating at the time on my Rum Atlas but since I have had the bottle at home, it needs 10 stars! Stir the coconut milk to make sure it hasn’t separated into water and cream, then add to the ice along with the rum and pineapple juice.