Pineapple Express Cocktail Recipe

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Last Updated on August 10, 2023 by Leah Hall

This Pineapple Express Cocktail Recipe is a great tropical cocktail, perfect all year long. Refreshing and flavorful!

 

This rich, refreshing cocktail is full of tropical flavors from citrus and fresh pineapple juice!

 

Pineapple Express History

The Pineapple Express Punch is named after the yearly weather phenomenon that tends to occur around the holidays out on the west coast of the United States. These storms come across the Pacific from Hawaii. They bring the rainy season and cool weather to the west coast.

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In the past, the Pineapple Express has wrecked havoc on California and the northwest with heavy rain and nearly hurricane force winds. In the spirit of the classic folks who ride out the hurricanes, we made a punch using the storm’s namesake, pineapple.

 

We love pineapple cocktail recipes. Here are some of our favorites: Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita, Pineapple Cilantro Margarita, Pineapple Rum Granita, or the Hawaiian Creamsicle.

How to Make the Pineapple Express Cocktail

This is a sweet, boozy cocktail that has a nice tropical fruit note that helps give a warmth to the cocktail. That warmth chases away the clouds while packing a big punch. We used a barrel aged rum, and a dark rum together to add depth to the drink. Fresh pineapple drinks have a special piece of our hearts, so this one is a new favorite!

 

Some other tropical cocktails to try if you can’t make the Pineapple Express Cocktail just yet, try our Tropical Delight, the Seer, Navy Grog, and Peach Zombie!

 

We then added in some coffee liqueur to make it a little darker and richer, but with the element of tiki. Three kinds of juices, lemon and lime, plus grilled pineapple juice. Please feel free to use regular old pineapple juice, we don’t judge!

We added in some Angostura bitters and coconut tincture (make sure to check out our video on tinctures!) to add more tropical flavors. The combo of these juices, pineapple juice and rum is accompanied by some cherry brandy.

We used homemade infused cherry brandy, but regular cherry brandy does really well in this pineapple juice and rum cocktail.  We then garnished the drink with our homemade brandied cherries and some mint.

 

Coconut Tincture

Speaking of Coconut Tincture, as we mention above in the ingredients. A tincture is a super easy ingredient to make, as well as a great way to add flavor to cocktails and drinks. While alcoholic, you don’t need much, just a few drops to add a ton of flavor.

 

To make the coconut tincture, simply add fresh coconut chunks (like 2-3) (or a Tablespoon of dried coconut) and pour Everclear over them, about 1/4-1/3 a cup of Everclear. You need this high proof liquor like Everclear or Bacardi 151 to pull out the essence of the ingredient you want to highlight. It doesn’t need to sit long, probably just around 24 hours, and then strain out the coconut pieces. Store this in a dropper bottle for ease of mixing and serving.

 

If you want more coconut flavor in a cocktail, try our Rum Punch!

Ingredients Needed for the Pineapple Express Cocktail

• Dark Rum – dark rum is aged. It is dark in color, but has a light or medium body. Sometimes it has burnt caramel added to darken the color. This is the longest aged rum.
• Aged Rum – the difference between dark rum and aged rum is the amount of time that the rum has spent aging in the barrel. The oak barrels allow the spirit to develop aroma, flavor and color.
• Cherry Brandy – Now, cherry brandy can have 2 meanings: 1) a liqueur made from brandy flavored with cherries and sweetened with sugar; or 2) a brandy distilled from fermented cherry juice. In this case, we are using the first one. The second one is delicious, but we want the sugar factor as well as the color in this cocktail. Some brands that are great for this are: Gabriel Boudier Cherry Brandy Liqueur, Giffard Cherry Brandy, Bols Cherry Brandy Liqueur, or Maraska Cherry Brandy. 
• Coffee Liqueur – you don’t need much of this liqueur in the recipe, but trust us, you need it. It gives a dark, roasted flavor to this sweet cocktail, and adds a depth to the drink, and helps slightly with the color too. We used St George Distilling NOLA Coffee Liqueur, but some other great choices are: Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, Kahlua, and Don Ciccio & Figli Concerto Coffee Liqueur.
• Lime Juice – of course, fresh squeezed is best!
• Lemon Juice – again, fresh squeezed is best!
• Grilled Pineapple Juice – or regular pineapple juice. The grilled pineapple juice makes for a richer cocktail, but regular pineapple juice is great too!
• Coconut Tincture – more info on how to make this above, but just the few drops needed in this cocktail add so much tropical flavor to this boozy beverage!
• Angostura Bitters – as we always say, bitters are the salt and pepper of the cocktail world, but in this case it also takes out some of the sweetness in this juice based and boozy sip.

 

Tips & Tricks

 

Cheers to this fabulous tropical rum tiki drink!

 

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Other Pineapple Cocktails

• Pineapple Basil Rum Fizz – A Beautiful Plate
• Grilled Pineapple Tiki Cocktail – Little Miss Party
• Pineapple Aperol Spritz
• To Rue and Pine – Craft and Cocktails

Other Cherry Brandy Cocktails

• Cherry Julep – Supergolden Bakes
• Smoked Cherry
• Cherry Brandy and Elderflower – Honestly Yum
• Desert Healer – Drink Kings
• Cherry Brandy Old Fashioned – The Bitten Word

Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

Coconut Rum Painkiller

 

Fall in Paradise

 

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