Reviewing The Birthplace Of This Caribbean Rum Cocktail
Do you like Pina Coladas?
It’s a frozen concoction that implies a tropical setting, swaying palm trees and not checking e-mail for a few days to see what the boss might want you to do while you are away from work.
Well you can thank a bartender at Barrachina in San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Old Town for coming up with the white soothing drink. For it was he that, back in 1963, decided the place needed a original drink. So he got to work on it, made a few experierments and eventually created this long-lasting identity of the island lifestyle.
And would you not have loved to be sitting at the bar when he came up with this idea!? He probably mixed up samples of ideas and used his customers to give him feedback. They no doubt drank for free for a few hours and eventually staggered out of the place laughing all the way back home!
Barrachina still exists today. It’s at the far end of Calle Forteleza (the main area of restaurants and bars in Old Town) and while it’s hardly the most popular place in town, it’s nice to go in and have a true original. When PubClub.com visited, we got a bonus and were greeted by a great-looking Puerto Rican girl bartender!
The drink here is quite good, perfectly blended. But it’s not overpowering.
The bar itself is more for veteran locals, and had we hung out long enough we would have heard a band catering to that crowd.
So it’s not the hottest, most chic place in town. But it’s an original and that makes it worthy of your time when you are in San Juan.
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