HOME Bartending: Host Your Own Piña Colada Party

1. Host Your Own Piña Colada Party: You want to throw a party, bring your friends together, but you don't want to make it too dull and uninspiring. Well, I feel you. We really need to step up our game. We need to flip the switch and add some magic to our parties. But where do I begin, I hear you asking? Simple. By organizing your very own Pina Colada party. That's right. Imagine each and every one of your guests sipping on a fantastic tropical drink, that will tickle their taste buds and will mesmerize them with its iconic aroma. Especially if you want to get everybody grooving on a dance floor. All that and more is right within your grasp. Hi, my name is Alex Glod. I'm a storyteller, TEDx speaker and online instructor, but I've been making cocktails ever since I started university. In this special Skillshare class, I will teach you how to make the perfect Pina Colada cocktail and how to plan an awesome party to go with it. You will learn about the ingredients and the gear that you will need, how to mix them all together, and how to set the mood for a memorable gathering. So sign up now and you'll be making delicious Pina Coladas in no time. 2. The Story Behind The Piña Colada: Hello there and welcome. I'm really excited that he jumped on board my invitation to make your very own peanut collateral part. It's going to be a very fun ride, but most importantly, your friends will be forever grateful for what you'll be able to pull off with this amazing cocktail recipe. Now, let's begin by learning a little bit of the history behind the cyclonic trick. The peanut Collado was created back in 1954 by a bartender in Puerto Rico. The name comes from a Spanish phrase, penal Collado, which literally translates into strange pineapple. The reason this string became so iconic is because it managed to mix pineapple and coconuts into a harmonious and mesmerizing blend. Ever since the word got out about the string, everybody tried to replicate its perfect blend of flavors from bartenders in North America and Australia all the way to South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. And now it's time for you to pass on this legacy. And all you need to know is the right ingredients you need to buy, as well as a little bit of know-how in terms of making your shopping list and taking care of your budgeting expenses, are you ready? Let's speak. 3. The Piña Colada Shopping List: So first off, you will need the following items for your recipe. A bottle or two of white rom, preferably from brands like Bacardi, Havana or Captain Morgan. Two to four liters of pineapple juice. Brands like font or horizontal, are always very good choices. A bottle of coconuts syrup from moaning or Bardeen, a box of sweet liquid cream. Your very own Boston shaker. And last but not least, ice and I mean, a lot of ice. Don't make the mistake of buying those plastic bags that you're supposed to fill up with water and make ice cubes width. First and foremost, those ice cubes are going to be very small. They're going to melt very quickly. But more important than that, those bags are not reusable. What I recommend is either you fill in your freezer with a lot of ice cube trays like these ones. And I meet a lot of them are simply just go to your closest gas station and buy a big, big bag of ready-made ice cubes. These ingredients would be enough to make the cocktail itself, but it's not just the content, but also the packaging. This is why I highly recommend that you also buy a fresh pineapple that you will use to garnish every drink. A set or two of tall cocktail glasses, such as this one. And last but not least, make sure to also have some metal or glass straws that you will use. The less plastic waste we make, the better. I've made a very simple Google spreadsheet that you can access at the link below, copy and then used on your own. Here you can add all of the costs related to organizing an event like this. And afterwards, our formulas will calculate how much money you are saving comparing to going out and buying these drinks at a bar. Plus they will also tell you how much it will cost you to make every drink. This way, if you're not planning on having to cover all of the costs by yourself, you can tell your guests how much they can contribute in your little tip jar. This way, you have a little more money to invest in future events and offer concepts of drinks. And at the end of the day, that's a win-win for everybody involved. That being said, one, to take care of buying everything in the shopping list, we can move on to making the pinnacle Lada itself. 4. The Piña Colada Recipe & Garnishing: There are very few drinks that are as refreshing as the pinnacle ADA, when it's creamy texture and sweet pineapple flavor, It's perfect for the summer time, but also for the wintertime when we are incredibly nostalgic for the hot sun. Let me walk you through the steps of making one from scratch. First, prepare your Boston shaker and fill it up with a handful of icecaps. Afterwards at around 40 to 50 milliliters of white Rome. Then around 20 milliliters of the coconut syrup. There you go. Shake that juice and add around a 150 milliliters of pineapple juice. There we go. And to top it all off, around 40 milliliters of liquid sweet cream. And now this wonderful creation is ready to be shaken. If you take the metal top of the Boston shaker, put it here like this, and give it a nice slap. And you're ready to shake for about 20 to 30 seconds. By the time this part here has been turned into this interesting site, we turn it upside down. And because it's very airtight, we need to give it a nice slept here. There we go. This way. We've managed to set the glass part free. Hen. We prepare our serving glass. We add just one or two extra ice cubes there to keep it as chilling prosthesis possible. And we add our mix in the class. We'll look at tab. Isn't it wonderful? We're almost ready. Last few details are, of course, the garnishing. We're going to put this drink a little bit to the side. Bring in our cutting board. And then I'm going to show you two ways in which you can garnish the peanut for data using your pinup. So first, we make a big, big cut as such. And you cut off and some of these slices like this, not too thick, but also not too thin. And you need to have a nice little blend of the two. And once you have this nice round this, you can cut it in two ways. Either. You have these very short, almost triangle like slices like this. And then you simply cut a line here in the middle. And then you just add it here to the side of the drink. Or if you have more pineapple on your hand and you're not too worried about being wasteful. What you can do is we can cut of bigger, slice. This a much wider triangle as you can see. And this time you'll cut the line here. And this is the part that you will then add as a garnish. So like I said, depending on how crazy you want to go, each of these garnishing is we'll make a difference. And of course, either your metal or your glass straw will be the perfect Addition. And voila, your pinnacle that up is ready to serve and share with your guests. Let's give it a little taste. See how good we've done with this recipe. You're going to have to take my word for it, but trust me to follow these steps to the letter. It's going to be truly mesmerizing. I highly recommend practicing making this recipe at least three times before you organize your very own party. This way, you'll get to identify what mistakes are wharf avoiding during the event itself, as well as how to be mindful about the cleaning process. Even if you will be making the same drink throughout the whole night, It's important that you keep your Boston shaker clean at all times. Not only that, by making free drinks, you'll get a better estimate of how much ice you will actually need throughout the night. It would be awful for you to run out of ice, right when the parties getting started. But not only that, as you practice these drinks, guess what? You will get to enjoy them on your own. And trust me, that is probably the best part of the experience. Now that we've managed to cover making the pinnacle ADA itself, it's time to answer the very important question. How do we turn a gathering into a party? 5. Pro Tips for Organizing a Piña Colada Party: Oh, oops, then see you there. The pinnacle ADA is a perfect drink for throwing a party. It's refreshing, it's delicious, and it has a certain air of sophistication that almost makes you feel like you're on vacation. But throwing a great penal cloud a party isn't always easy given how many aspects you need to think about when preparing for it, but have no fear. All you need to learn is right here. The first important ingredients to a great pinnacle at a party or decorations. You want to set the mood and make the party feel like the Nile and the statement. Imagine what you would find on a tropical resort or in a hot summer beach. Think of things like palm fronds, flowers lays, seashells. Whatever reminds you of paradise, you can look at whatever you have at home, but you can also invite your friends to contribute with whatever they have. A. Think of. Whether you have maybe a friend who's very talented at making handmade decorations, give them a call and tell them the event you have in mind and trusted they will bring their vision to your event. This way, if there are more people involved in making this event success to help better. The next important thing to consider is the music. The right tunes will get people excited and in the mood for having a party. You can go with traditional Caribbean music, reggae tone, classical Latin hits, hip hop, popular summer songs, and even some beats from Africa. You don't have to worry too much about bringing a DJ on board, but make sure to have a playlist of four to five hours with music that will keep people moving and going around. Have some songs to warm up the atmosphere, but keep the greatest hits for the second part of the party. Once people have had at least two of these wonderful drinks, the party will take a life of its own. It's also very important to think about the dress code that would be most suitable for this type of event. Beach attire like bathing suits and flip-flops, would be the best way to go if it's not too formal, but otherwise, some really cute summer dresses will do the trick. Some of your friends, My bring their own Hawaiian flower necklaces. Some might bring a sombrero and a guitar, while some might even come dressed as pirates, you'll know how much they used to like rum. At the end of the day, just set the scene for a tropical party and that everyone Come in their own way. But make sure to communicate that it is a must for people to respect the dress code. Let them know that they will not be allowed with regular clothes. This way, you protect the gathering and you respect the intention of why people who have come here, it would be a PD to have two or three friends that are really excited. They're coming dressed up while everyone else is like, look at those readers, those weirdos. These are the ones you need to make your party amazing. So protect the gathering from that. Any small thing that everyone else will do to really blend in, we'll create a whole new atmosphere and everybody will soon forget they are now in an artificial environment. But it will feel very, very, very real. Last but not least, make sure that everybody knows the exact address, the hour that they are expected to join. The offerings that they can bring. For example, tell them to avoid bringing beer and wine. Instead, I can bring more ROM, more tropical drinks, fruits, and some light snacks. And most importantly, make sure your camera or your phone is properly charged and ready to take a lot of amazing pictures. Not just for you to brag on social media or for your nice little memories, but also to share with us as well. Your project for completing this class is very simple. Organize a party based on everything you've learned here and share with us two important things. First of all, pictures from the party, you know, the old saying pics or it didn't happen. But second, we would love to know your experience, what you've learned from it. How did the whole preparation goal, what was the feedback you got from everybody? What lessons you've learned along the way and what do you think you could do better for next time? You're Act is an act of courage to organize such a party is truly leaving the comfort zone. But it's the type of act. Then we'll create a ripple effect after you organize a theme party like this, this could inspire other friends of yours to do the same. And then after they do it, maybe it will inspire other friends of their own. And this type of movement is something that we truly truly need. If you want to find out more fun theme parties that you could organize. Don't worry, I got you covered. Stay tuned. But until then, organize this party. And honestly, I just can't wait to hear how you experience when for you. Until then. Enjoy and cheers. 6. BONUS VIDEO: The Margarita: Making the peanut collated cocktail is fun and all. But at the end of the day is just the beginning when it comes to the endless possibilities of making cocktails at home. That's why today you'll learn how to make yet another classy and iconic cocktail. This one for your friends who enjoy more of a sour and alcohol intense drink. The margarita has been on every bartenders menu since 1938. Back then, and innovative California restaurant owner decide to move, decided to mix tequila, Triple sec, lime and ice and make this their signature drink and the rest, It's all history. This is a perfect drink to have for any type of celebration. Because even though it's not that sweet, sour and strong enough to get you feeling good in just a matter of minutes. Throwing a party around this drink or simply adding it to your collection will be a worthwhile investment, both for yourself and for the people joining. Here are the following ingredients in gear that you will need to make this iconic drink. First, you'll need to buy a bottle of Tequila. Brands like cross equitable, Camino or Omeka are great places to start. Then a bottle of Triple sec, you can go with something off-brand like the one that I bought at my local store. Or you can go for everyone's favorite fun throw. Then make sure to have a lot of lime at your disposal for a party where you would want to consume these two bottles, make sure to have at least one or two kilograms lying around. Then as usual, a bucket load of ice, you're going to need a lot of it for this one. Of course, your Boston shaker will be important, but make sure to also have a strainer or learn how to strain the drink and not leave the ice cubes in the drink at the end, because we're not going to be serving the margarita and very simple glass. We're either going to go for a margarita or a martini glass depending on what is available around where you live. And last but not least, the final touch will be to have a plate of fine salt that will be the finishing garnishing of the drink. Once you cover these elements, we are ready to start making this iconic precedent. So we'll take our shaker. We add in the ice cubes. We add around 30 milliliters of the silver tequila. Afterwards, around 20 milliliters of the Triple sec. After that, we take one of our lines and we cut it nicely into eight pieces. And after we've cut this half into four different parts, we're going to squeeze them and add them inside the shaken. At this point you're ready to go and you can start shaking the drink. But you can also add two more alternative ingredients if you want a different flavor to it. Traditionally, people like to add a little bit of simple syrup to the drink to add a little bit of sweetness. However, my recommendation would be, if possible, and you find the lemon, lime juice from funner. This could be the nice little addition to the drink because it adds a little bit of color and I believe it potentiates the lime juice that if you already squeezed in there. There we go. And after that gentle touch, we're ready to start shaking. When there you have it. Give it a nice little slap. There we go. But we're not yet ready to put the drink in the glass because what do we need to do? We want to add this classical look of the margarita? And that is to have a nice rim of salt here at the edge of the drinks. So what do we do? We take some lime that we have leftover and we simply create this nice rim here. And this will help because once we will try to add in the salt, the salt will stick to these wet part of the glass. So again, we take the salt plate and we do our best to gently add it to the edge of the glass. And we've managed this way to acquire this iconic look of the margarita. Look at that. And now what is left for us to do is to take the strainer, put it on top. The male parts of the Boston shaker. And this strain the drink and add it in the glass. Look at that. There you have it. Now the string is ready to be enjoyed by any of your friends. And at first some might be a little bit skeptical about the salt added here. So I would say first let them give that a try and if they don't like it, they can keep on drinking from the same part of the glass. And they should enjoy it in the classical manner. But I suggest going all the way because this is where the true experience of drinking the margarita lies. That gentle mix of the salt and the drink is something that will catch you a bit of off guard because it cancels a little bit of the toughness of the drink. And at 1 you'll be like, well, I want another, I know one another. And after three or four drinks of these, Trust me, I've heard you're going to be in for a party or you're going to need to lie down for a second. Just like with the peanut Collado, I highly recommend trying out this recipe at least three times before sharing that with your friends. I know it may seem a little bit overzealous, but trust me, when I say that it will make your life a whole lot easier once the actual party gets started. Check out this recipe for yourself and let me know how your friends enjoyed it as well. Cheers. 7. BONUS VIDEO: The Kamikaze Shots: No party is truly complete without hearing someone say, Hey, shots are on me. That's why as a token of my appreciation for being a good student and for sticking around so far. Today I will teach you how to make one of the most well-known shots out there. The committee Qazi is a special mix string that has been around for decades. There are many legends pointing to its origins, but most of us know that it originates from Japan. One of the legend says that an alcoholic World War II pilot wanted to make a very intense, powerful cocktail. And that's when the Kamikaze was born. This is a special type of drink because it doesn't have that much of a clear cut recipe because everybody also life's to add its own little combinations. Today I will also teach you the basic recipe and afterwards I'll also recommend some nice variations that you can add depending on your own personal tastes and preferences. If you still have a lot of lime and Triple sec leftover from your margarita is all you need to do. Extra is to buy a bottle of vodka. Brands like smeared North, absolute, best place to start. And of course, a collection of short classes I recommend should not be more than 30 to 40 milliliters because at the end of the day, you don't want people to get incredibly drawn just by drinking one shot. All right, so let's get to making this recipe. With this one, we're going to make around four shots. Because of course you'll never going to make just one shot for some person. And if you want to make even more, just know how to double and triple the amounts that we're going to be using now. So in our shaker, we add the ice cubes. We start by adding 40 milliliters of vodka. Afterwards, 20 milliliters of Triple sec. And then we squeeze half of a lime inside the shaker. At this point, you're more than ready to start shaking the drink. If however you want to add your personal spin, Here's what I can recommend as a place to begin. Get your hands on one of these two colorful syrups, either the BlueCross hour for you to add a nice little bluish color and to the drink or the grana Dean served as you want it to look a little bit more red. And in fact, if you use this one, you can disguise one of these drinks with a little bit of Tabasco in it. And then I'll a little bit of a Russian roulette can happen by mixing the shots and then seeing at the end who gets the Tabasco one. My recommendation, do this trick only with people who you know can take this type of joke. Because this could also be the type of thing that will ruin a friendship or the relationship you're trying to build with someone. So please use it with care. For this scenario, I'm just going to add a little bit of the gradient just to see how this will change the look of the drinks, are just going to add something between five to 10 milliliters, not too much. And we're ready to give this one shape. All right, give it again and I slapped poo. And let's line up our shots and have them prepared. To take the top off. We put the strainer on and we add the drink to the shots. And wouldn't you know it exact mathematical precision of filling up for shot glasses. Another fun variation of this shock is by replacing the classical vodka with a flavored vodka. This way you'll disguise a special aroma in the strip. Now, regardless of which variation you choose, make sure to enjoy this shot as quickly as possible and in one go so that you can properly sense the intense flavors that this shot has to offer. This is a perfect way to end your, your night with your friends and have a great adventure at the same time. So cheers and responsible, happy drinking. I wish you from this point forward and I look forward to seeing you put all of this scale to great work. And if you're wondering how you can learn even more and take this learning journey even further. Well, I'll have a surprise for you, but just stick around and you'll soon find out.