Page "Piña colada" Paragraph 5

Barcelona-born Hilton employee Ricardo Gracia claims to have invented the contended drink in 1954 under a series of fortuitous circumstances.

Rumor has it that while Gracia worked at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan de Puerto Rico, the coconut cutters ’ union decided to strike.

Until that moment, the Puerto Rican drink of choice had been the popular Coco-Loco, a mix of coconut milk, rum and coconut cream served inside a fresh macheted coconut.

When the coconut supply was halted by the strike, resourceful Ricardo Gracia made the executive decision to relocate the ingredients of the Coco-Loco inside hollowed out pineapples ( evidently the pineapple cutters ’ union had not followed suit with a strike of their own ).

Once the coconut flavor and rum came into contact with the sweet acidity of the pineapple pulp, the piña colada was inevitably born.