Pineapple Blossom – Easy Pineapple Juice Cocktail

The Pineapple Blossom is an easy whiskey cocktail based on the Whiskey Sour. This pineapple juice cocktail is great to drink before dinner because it won’t fill you up like a big tiki drink. And whiskey and pineapple juice is a great flavor combination.

I found the recipe for the Pineapple Blossom in David Embury’s 1948 classic cocktail book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. But that recipe had problems.

Embury had a notoriously dry palate, meaning he liked his sour cocktails VERY sour. I love sour cocktails, but the Pineapple Blossom in his book was way too sour for me, and borderline undrinkable for my wife.

So I fixed it.

My recipe keeps the same 4 ingredients, but the proportions are quite different. There is a lot more acid in the pineapple juice than you would think, so I cut the lemon juice and added sugar. Then I had to rebalance the whiskey to keep the ABV (alcohol by volume) at an appropriate level for an aperitif cocktail.

The result is a simple whiskey drink with a tropical twist. There’s a good balance of whiskey and pineapple juice in this “pineapple whiskey sour.”

Pineapple Blossom Cocktail Recipe

Here are exactly the ingredients I used to make the cocktails in the pictures:

Detailed instructions and notes

If I were running a bar or restaurant and the Pineapple Blossom was on the menu, I would juice my own pineapple. Nothing beats fresh juice.

But when you’re making cocktails at home, you have to make trade-offs. I typically don’t need that much pineapple juice, and after a long day of work, I don’t want the effort of juicing a pineapple just to make a couple drinks. So I buy pineapple juice.

For my cocktail experiments, I bought a big bottle of organic fresh-pressed pineapple juice from the grocery store. (That’s the one in the pictures). However, you can also buy a pack of little six-ounce cans from Dole. Just make sure you’re buying 100% pineapple juice without added sugar.

Lemons are a different story. I always fresh-squeeze lemons when I make a cocktail. If you need a good workhorse of a citrus juicer, this is my favorite.

I also use homemade simple syrup. I spend 10 minutes once a month and make enough to last the whole month.

Shake vigorously with cubed ice and the pineapple juice will produce a nice white froth that floats on top of the drink.

Double-strain by using your Hawthorne strainer on the shaker to strain out the large ice cubes and a fine mesh strainer to filter out any fruit pulp, seeds, and ice shards.

I like to garnish the Pineapple Blossom with candied pineapple I get at the grocery store.

Best whiskey for a Pineapple Blossom

I made this pineapple juice cocktail with both bourbon and rye and either will taste great. Canadian whisky would work too. I haven’t tried it with Scotch, but that could be a very interesting flavor combination!

If you need brand recommendations, here are a few that I like:

• Rye – Sazerac Rye, Rittenhouse Rye, Bulleit Rye
• Bourbon – Old Forrester 86-proof, Old Grandad Bonded, Bulleit