Behind the Cocktail: Beverage Manager Jim Wrigley’s Riff, Champagne Piña Colada

By November 3, 2022Mixology News

Beverage Manager from  Kimpton Seafire Resort & Spa , Jim Wrigley,  is an expert in all aspects of cocktail creation.

 

Jim Headshot

 

His knowledge of the bartending craft is backed by years of experience running award-winning bars and restaurants all over the world. Also a decorated International Brand Ambassador, Wrigley has found himself in countless honorable positions throughout his career thanks to his elite expertise. He has fixed and served drinks at Buckingham Palace and the Monaco Grand Prix, made Martini’s for Bond, and for Tiki-up Caribbean beach bars. Not to mention, he has also trained some of the bar industry’s best and brightest.

Behind the bar, Jim is known for using the sous-vide method to create his liquid masterpieces. This technique where pineapple and coconut flavors are infused into white rum is the key to unlocking his famous “Champagne Pinacolada.” Pineapple skins and coconut are sous vide in Appleton white rum to round it off, bringing fruit, pineapple acids and enzymes and a vanilla smoothness. He freshens it up with fresh lime, pineapple, and balances it with some Coco Lopez.

Chilled had the opportunity to chat with Jim about the drink and its story in further detail. He was also kind enough to share some his best riffing tips for bartenders.

 

Talk to us about the Champagne Pinacolada’s origins.

So many years ago in Edinburgh, and later London, I had the pleasure of working with Chris Moore in high volume fast paced cocktail bars. Flash forward to a decade and a half or so, Chris has taken world cocktail competitions by storm. Along with running the Savoy Beaufort bar, he also opened his own place Coupette. Here one of the best drinks on the planet lives, the Champagne Pina Colada.

 

What inspired the drink?

The inspiration for this drink may have been the Champagne Pina Colada, but the whole idea was born from Kimpton Seafire having the best Pina Colada on the island, at our Mexican Cantina on the beach, Coccoloba.

 

What can you tell us about riffing on a Pinacolada?

For any derivative or “inspired” riff on an existing drink, it depends if you’re paying homage, augmenting and improving, or directly ripping off. Most of the early twists are simple substitution. Generally though, it’s much deeper than that. You have to break down the drink into key characteristics: who IS the Pina Colada? What aspects of the drink, ingredients, name, serve, method etc. are the essence of the drink? And then what happens if you play with that?

If you go too far though, you’re not flattering or imitating, you’re building a new drink on a framework. Swap the rum for tequila, no problem. Pineapple for bergamot? Sure, but isn’t this now a Coconut Margarita?

 

What should novice bartenders know about riffing on classic cocktails?

If the basis of a drink is booze + bitter + aromatic sweet modifier, then you have an almost unlimited number of combinations that might work! But most of them wont without tweaks and rebalances. So, try every ingredient you’re thinking of using solo, side-by-side potential options to work out not which one is “best” (not a thing), but which has the elements that are best for this drink.

 

Escape (If you like Pina Coladas)

Escape

Created by Jim Wrigley, Beverage Manager at Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz Escape rum (pineapple and coconut sous vide Appleton White rum)
  • 3/4 oz Coco Lopez (accept no substitutes)
  • 1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
  • 1/2 oz FreshPpineapple Juice
  • 1 1/2 oz Sparkling Wine (we use a bio-dynamic cava)
  • Coco “sand” Grated coconut roasted with demerara sugar until brown (for garnish)

Preparation: Add all ingredients except bubbles to shaker and shake very hard until very cold. Strain into a chilled coco sand’ed flute glass with bubbles already in.

 

Behind the Cocktail Notes

  • Pineapple and coconut infused Appleton white rum, fresh pressed lime and pineapple, Coco Lopez, prosecco. This drink is inspired (imitation v. flattery etc.) from Chris Moore and Coupette bar in London’s Champagne Piña Colada. They have created a big bubbly blended thing with champagne. Ave, on the other hand have created a drink more reminiscent of the Ramos Gin Fizz than a Pina Colada—It tastes like a cloud.
  • Escape is the proper name for The Piña Colada Song by Rupert Holmes 1979
  • Pineapple skins and coconut are sous vide in Appleton white rum to round it off, bringing fruit, pineapple acids & enzymes and a vanilla smoothness. Freshen this up with fresh lime, pineapple, and balance it with some Coco Lopez and you’ve a great fresh PC – Then we pour it into a flute over prosecco, where the bubbles react to fluff it up and add both texture and a touch of zing.
  • Garnish with Coconut sand. (Edible – Toasted coconut and sugar) Looks like it fell on the beach while you were dancing in the sun. (The Piña Colada is a state of mind).
  • Food Pairing: Squid, ceviche, coconut palm heart salad.

 

 

 

About Jim Wrigley 

From running award-winning bars and restaurants in Edinburgh, London, and all over the world to being an award-winning International Brand Ambassador, Jim’s wide-range of expertise has seen him fix & shake drinks at Buckingham Palace and the Monaco Grand Prix; make Martini’s for Bond, and Tiki-up Caribbean beach bars, not to mention training some of the bar industry’s best & brightest.

Following on from managing and directing bars such as Lonsdale, Trailer Happiness & Made in the Shade, Jim was most recently the Bar Operations Manager for Bourne & Hollingsworth Group, where he works with Jamie Forbes, having re-united the team that created the Internationally-renowned Albannach. Over ten years of his career have been spent working in numerous global markets to build and develop all areas of brand communication. Jim often consults on product and brand development for some of the most interesting and iconic liquids in the UK and International markets and is co-founder of the award-winning Luhv Drinks cold-pressed juice range. Regularly seen or heard in film, print and radio as an expert in drinks, Jim also plays a key role in the drinks-side of international events like Lisbon Bar Show and the UK Rumfest.

The post Behind the Cocktail: Beverage Manager Jim Wrigley’s Riff, Champagne Piña Colada appeared first on Chilled Magazine.

Source: Mixology News

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