The Caribbean islands and their coconut cocktails.

COCONUT TROPICAL DRINKS

The Caribbean islands are known for the tropical drinks made from coconuts. Coconut milk and coconut water are applied in ingenious ways with coconut rum to put a smile on your face. My favorite is the Piña Colada made with rum, pineapple and coconut. It makes me dream of tropical beaches and sunny days under palm trees.

I ordered a Piña Colada at the Tiki Bikini Hut Beach Bar on Junkanoo Beach in Nassau, Bahamas, and the bartender cut up a coconut with a machete in front of me. What a treat! He mixed it in a blender with Coconut Rum, pineapple juice, squeezed oranges, mango nectar, then added lots of coconut water. Watch the video below of this amazing beach bar, only a 12-minute walk from Nassau’s cruise ship dock. It’s worth it to visit this beach bar on Junkanoo Beach.

The Piña Colada is sometimes flavored with cream of coconut, which is similar to condensed milk, except that it’s made with coconut milk instead of cow’s milk.

Another coconut enriched cocktail can be found in the Virgin Islands and is their signature drink… the Painkiller! On St. John, it’s the official medication to alleviate your worries and put you on “island time” right away! The Pain Killer is readily available at most beach bars on St. John, as well as throughout the Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands.

The Pain Killer was really made famous by the Soggy Dollar Bar in Jost Van Dyke, that claims credit for “The Original Painkiller.” The Longboard on St. John also has Frozen Painkillers… on tap!

OK, OK, so you want the recipe they use in the USVIs for the Pain Killer to make at home? Here it is:

• 1 part cream of coconut (Coco Lopez is the most common and cans should be available at the grocery store)
• 1 part orange juice (no pulp is preferred)
• 4 parts pineapple juice
• Rum to taste (careful here!!)
• Fresh nutmeg

In the MISSION OF VENGEANCE spy thriller, tropical thirst-quenchers made from coconuts are mentioned. Here’s a few snippets:

Agent Alexis Phillips knew how to blend in. She sat with her back to the wall at an outdoor café, sipping an iced cold Passion Fruit drink. It was amazing how they could blend coconut milk with tropical fruits to create such a taste. It felt refreshing in the hot sun.

Twenty minutes later he climbed the ladder into his Boston Whaler and sped to the Sosua Bay Resort Hotel. In the protected inlet below the resort, he noticed agent Phillips standing at the wrought-iron fence on a cliff that overlooked the bay. She sipped a tropical drink of some sort, enhanced with Coconut Rum and coconut milk. Palm trees growing on an island in the fresh-water pool towered behind her. As he threw in the anchor, grabbed his duffel bag and jumped into the waist-deep water, she turned and walked away. Proceed with the brush pass.

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Lastly, enjoy this old video I made at the Tiki Bikini Beach Hut Bar on Junkanoo Beach, Nassau, Bahamas. Ignore the spy stuff and just enjoy the scene at this beach bar. It’s incredible the drinks they concoct from coconuts. Enjoy!

Robert Morton writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community and also enjoys traveling to the Caribbean, Bahamas, the Florida Keys and Key West. He combined both passions by creating the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster series.