Caribe Hilton’s Piña Colada

It seems unimaginable that a drink as crowd-pleasing as the piña colada would inspire fierce debate. But to this day, no one can agree on the cocktail’s exact origin — or even how to make it! The first theory involves the pirate Roberto Cofresí, who supposedly invented the drink to keep his sailors happy and prevent mutiny. Others swear it came from the bar at the Old San Juan restaurant Barrachina. But the most popular story traces the idea to the Caribe Hilton, where bartender Ramón “Monchito” Marrero supposedly created it in the ʼ50s as a family-friendly nonalcoholic drink. Back then, blenders weren’t common, so the first piña coladas were made in a cocktail shaker. Marrero eventually added rum, and the recipe was later revised for blenders (see below). Try that version, or use a cocktail shaker and serve the drink over ice to get a real taste of the original!