The famous Piña Colada has several origin legends, all tied up to Puerto Rico. 

The Caribe Hilton, one of the premier luxury hotels in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan, claims the piña colada was first served up in its Beachcombers Bar in 1954 by bartender Ramon “Monchito” Marrero. Asked to create a signature drink that captured the flavors of the island, Marrero spent three months experimenting combinations of flavours. After tasting one of the hotel’s piña coladas, Hollywood legend Joan Crawford reportedly declared it was “better than slapping Bette Davis in the face.”

Another barman who served up drinks at the Caribe Hilton, however, has claimed that he invented the cool, creamy cocktail. The story goes that because of a strike by a coconut-cutters union in 1954, Spaniard Ricardo Gracia could not serve the popular mixed drink of rum in its traditional sliced coconut. Forced to improvise, Gracia poured the drink into a hollowed-out pineapple instead, added freshly pressed and strained pineapple juice to the rum and cream of coconut combination to create the piña colada, which means “strained pineapple” in Spanish.

In 1978 the piña colada was declared the national drink of Puerto Rico, and the next year it was cemented into pop culture with the famous “The Piña Colada Song” - best known for its iconic chorus: “If you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.”