Spiced Pineapple Cocktail

For the Australian GP, I went on a serious hunt for a proper Australian cocktail. My research efforts were mostly met with overly sweet, fruity, sugar bombs. Just to give you a few examples: Watermelon Spritz, Pretty in Pink Vodka Cooler, Giggly Rose Cocktail. No, thank you. According to one Australian food author, there are no truly Australian cocktails because, "our laid-back Aussie culture sits at odds with the fussiness of cocktail making", so he suggests an easy to make beer-based punch. Hmm. Well, maybe that answers why it is so hard to find a good cocktail that is quintessentially Aussie… maybe there are none?

Not to be deterred by sugar overload or food authors naysaying, we tried a few outliers that sounded like they might hit our mark, including the Dead Man's Drop  and the Beachcomber. The first was a little too adventurous (though it gave us an excuse to use our chocolate bitters) and the second didn't veer too far from a standard Mai Tai, tad boring. Finally we found a winner in the Spiced Pineapple Pitcher cocktail. Tart, punchy, just enough sweet and a great complement to an F1 Grand Prix. Hope you enjoy it too! 

Spiced Pineapple Cocktail

Adapted from Eat Drink Play

makes 1 cocktail

1 ounce spiced rum
1 ounce white rum
2 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces ginger ale
10 leaves/ 3 small sprigs fresh mint
½  lime sliced into 1cm thick pieces
1 large slice fresh pineapple cut into wedges

Add pineapple wedges, lime slices, and mint in the bottom of a glass, muddle until very juicy. Add ice. Add both rums, pineapple juice, and ginger ale. Mix with tall spoon until well blended. Serve with a pineapple wedge for garnish.