Piña Verde Cocktail Recipe

The Piña Verde, which translates to “Green Pineapple” in Spanish, is an herbaceous take on a Piña Colada, combining French liqueur Green Chartreuse with pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and fresh lime juice. 

The tropical modern classic came together around the mid-2000s when influential bartender Erick Castro began to add a float of the potent herbal liqueur, Green Chartreuse, to Piña Coladas at his bar Polite Provisions in San Diego, California. After tweaking the formulation, ultimately removing the base of rum to properly showcase the liqueur, Castro officially added it to the bar’s cocktail menu, where it was referred to by the staff as the “Greenya Colada.”

The Piña Verde made its way to New York City in 2014 when Castro was involved in the relaunch of the East Village bar, Boilermaker, where the cocktail became a customer favorite. From there, word spread in the bar community of the Piña Colada variation with an herbal kick, and it soon popped up on cocktail menus across the country.

Why the Piña Verde works

A traditional Piña Colada is sweet, creamy, tropical, and uncomplicated. The balance of cream of coconut with pineapple and lime juice, with a light, crisp rum, makes for a crowd-pleasing formula. 

When experimenting with Green Chartreuse in the cocktail, Castro originally left the drink as is, first adding a float of the liqueur on top. Later, he tried gin in place of rum, but eventually found that omitting the base spirit altogether and increasing the liqueur was key to spotlighting the complex flavors that emerged.

Chartreuse is an herbal liqueur that’s been produced in France by the Carthusian monks since the 1700s. The green expression has a beet-sugar spirit base, is made from 130 botanicals, and is aged in oak barrels. With a slightly higher proof (55% ABV) and more pronounced herbal qualities than the yellow, Green Chartreuse is a favorite modifier for bartenders to play with. Though the bottle can be pricey and sometimes difficult to source, a little bit often goes a long way. In the case of the Piña Verde, however, more is more.

The bold, peppery, mint notes in the liqueur complement the pineapple’s tropical tang while cutting through the rich cream of coconut. Freshly squeezed lime juice adds the necessary refreshing tart acidity to balance the sweetness from the drink’s ingredients, and further brightens the cocktail.