Thirsty Thursday Eve - Caribou Lemonade
I recently tried pineapple lemonade, and I enjoyed it so much, it inspired me to make an alcoholic beverage with pineapple lemonade as the main mixing ingredient.
Recipe:
16 oz lemonade
12 oz pineapple juice or nectar
6 oz white rum
6 oz coconut rum
Combine ingredients in a large shaker.
Serve over ice.
Never had I heard of pineapple lemonade before I saw it on the menu at Q's Crackin' Crab & Seafood Kitchen. I like pineapple, and I like lemonade, so obviously I had to try the combination. I’m not really sure what I expected, but it just tasted like pineapple juice and lemonade, but they go together surprisingly well.
So well, in fact, I decided I should try to make it myself. We keep pineapple juice and nectar on hand most times, and I got a case of Rockstar Energy lemonade for dirt cheap a little while ago. Those candidates seemed as good as any to reproduce the pineapple lemonade I had without the hassle of driving down to Florida again.
My concoction wasn’t exactly the same as what I had at the restaurant, but it was a fairly close approximation. Truly, I didn’t expect it to be identical. They probably used fresh squeezed lemons and junk. I used a lemon flavored energy drink. Garbage in, garbage out. Well, not garbage, but certainly not fresh squeezed lemon juice. Even still, cracking open 2 cans is a whole lot easier than making traditional lemonade. I was content with the outcome.
Sipping on my own pineapple lemonade, it occurred to me that it would be a great base for a mixed drink. Caribou Lou came to mind, which is an ounce of Bacardi 151, an ounce of Malibu, and 4 ounces of pineapple juice. Fortunately, I did have a bottle of Malibu. I don’t ever keep 151 at home, but surely regular 80 proof white rum would be sufficient. I wasn’t trying to recreate a Caribou Lou, anyway, it just gave me a starting point.
What would I call this new drink? I had to pay homage to Caribou Lou, of course. But I also needed to reference the fact that it had lemonade in it.
Lou’s Lemonade? Nah.
Lou-monade? Clever, but it just sounds goofy.
Caribou Lemonade? Close enough to evoke the connection, and it sounded better. Plus, it doesn’t seem to be a recognized name for any drink. That’s it. I’m claiming it.
So how would I go about making this Caribou Lemonade? We’ll start with a can of Rockstar Energy lemonade (16 oz) and a can of pineapple nectar (12 oz). I could use pineapple juice, but Ingles sells 12 oz cans of pineapple nectar for easier proportions. Plus, you could sub in other flavors of nectar to change up the drink a little bit.
That gives me 28 oz of mixer by volume. The recipe for Caribou Lou is a 1:1:4 ratio. Keeping similar to that, I would need 7 oz each 151 proof rum and coconut rum. I could double the amount of white rum to mimic the strength of the 151, but not everybody likes a strong drink. It’s probably a safer bet to keep that around 7. Plus, coconut can be a divisive flavor (read: my wife doesn’t like coconut). Maybe you could keep the Malibu out, and add a shot of it after the fact for those who do like it. Or, you could do a shot of Malibu and follow it with a chaser of spiked pineapple lemonade. The possibilities are endless.
By this point in my thought process, the drink was sounding more and more like a pitcher-style beverage for groups. You aren’t making single drinks at those proportions. I also considered making it portable, for bringing to parties or family gatherings. It occurred to me that my 40 oz ThermoFlask bottle would be a great serving vessel. It has insulated walls to keep the drink cold, and the spout would be great for pouring over ice.
My engineer mind took over and I started crunching numbers. We start with 40 oz of capacity in the bottle. Adding 28 oz of mixer leaves us with 12 oz of space for liquor. Since we’re adding two types of rum for the standard recipe, that divides easily into 6 oz each. That keeps us almost perfectly in line with the expected 7 oz from the original ratio. Plus, it fills the bottle up right to the brim, giving plenty of boozy lemonade for those parties that last late into the evening. Chill everything beforehand and it should stay nice and cold in those insulated walls. It’s a shaker, carrier, and serving vessel all in one.
Obviously, I couldn’t let this go with just theory. I had to put it to the test in application. We invited some friends over to be my guinea pigs. While I was making the drink, they noted that I was adding a ton of alcohol. Honestly, 6 oz of liquor does look like a lot when you’re putting it all in one drink. After I finished making it, everyone got a sample. All of my test subjects seemed to approve, with the general consensus that it tastes “like the beach.” I’ll take that as a compliment.
So well, in fact, I decided I should try to make it myself. We keep pineapple juice and nectar on hand most times, and I got a case of Rockstar Energy lemonade for dirt cheap a little while ago. Those candidates seemed as good as any to reproduce the pineapple lemonade I had without the hassle of driving down to Florida again.
My concoction wasn’t exactly the same as what I had at the restaurant, but it was a fairly close approximation. Truly, I didn’t expect it to be identical. They probably used fresh squeezed lemons and junk. I used a lemon flavored energy drink. Garbage in, garbage out. Well, not garbage, but certainly not fresh squeezed lemon juice. Even still, cracking open 2 cans is a whole lot easier than making traditional lemonade. I was content with the outcome.
Sipping on my own pineapple lemonade, it occurred to me that it would be a great base for a mixed drink. Caribou Lou came to mind, which is an ounce of Bacardi 151, an ounce of Malibu, and 4 ounces of pineapple juice. Fortunately, I did have a bottle of Malibu. I don’t ever keep 151 at home, but surely regular 80 proof white rum would be sufficient. I wasn’t trying to recreate a Caribou Lou, anyway, it just gave me a starting point.
What would I call this new drink? I had to pay homage to Caribou Lou, of course. But I also needed to reference the fact that it had lemonade in it.
Lou’s Lemonade? Nah.
Lou-monade? Clever, but it just sounds goofy.
Caribou Lemonade? Close enough to evoke the connection, and it sounded better. Plus, it doesn’t seem to be a recognized name for any drink. That’s it. I’m claiming it.
So how would I go about making this Caribou Lemonade? We’ll start with a can of Rockstar Energy lemonade (16 oz) and a can of pineapple nectar (12 oz). I could use pineapple juice, but Ingles sells 12 oz cans of pineapple nectar for easier proportions. Plus, you could sub in other flavors of nectar to change up the drink a little bit.
That gives me 28 oz of mixer by volume. The recipe for Caribou Lou is a 1:1:4 ratio. Keeping similar to that, I would need 7 oz each 151 proof rum and coconut rum. I could double the amount of white rum to mimic the strength of the 151, but not everybody likes a strong drink. It’s probably a safer bet to keep that around 7. Plus, coconut can be a divisive flavor (read: my wife doesn’t like coconut). Maybe you could keep the Malibu out, and add a shot of it after the fact for those who do like it. Or, you could do a shot of Malibu and follow it with a chaser of spiked pineapple lemonade. The possibilities are endless.
By this point in my thought process, the drink was sounding more and more like a pitcher-style beverage for groups. You aren’t making single drinks at those proportions. I also considered making it portable, for bringing to parties or family gatherings. It occurred to me that my 40 oz ThermoFlask bottle would be a great serving vessel. It has insulated walls to keep the drink cold, and the spout would be great for pouring over ice.
My engineer mind took over and I started crunching numbers. We start with 40 oz of capacity in the bottle. Adding 28 oz of mixer leaves us with 12 oz of space for liquor. Since we’re adding two types of rum for the standard recipe, that divides easily into 6 oz each. That keeps us almost perfectly in line with the expected 7 oz from the original ratio. Plus, it fills the bottle up right to the brim, giving plenty of boozy lemonade for those parties that last late into the evening. Chill everything beforehand and it should stay nice and cold in those insulated walls. It’s a shaker, carrier, and serving vessel all in one.
Obviously, I couldn’t let this go with just theory. I had to put it to the test in application. We invited some friends over to be my guinea pigs. While I was making the drink, they noted that I was adding a ton of alcohol. Honestly, 6 oz of liquor does look like a lot when you’re putting it all in one drink. After I finished making it, everyone got a sample. All of my test subjects seemed to approve, with the general consensus that it tastes “like the beach.” I’ll take that as a compliment.
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