“The bartender whips us up two rum drinks inside of hollowed out pineapples. He sets them on fire and we have to blow them out before we can drink them” - At the Freaky Tiki

Inspiration

That quote above was all I really needed to develop a drink bombastic and boisterous enough for a father like Brian Harding! It started with him bragging about his daughter and evolved into a one-upping match taking us from pirate-themed mini-golf to a starlight-lit carnival ride. The name “Pineapple of Hospitality” is indeed the name of the drink presented in the game, and I took it as an opportunity to create an iteration to take back to our XBar.

Workshopping

Originally, Brian struck me as the beef-grilling and steak-searing dad type so I played around with smoked cocktail concepts. During our playthrough, an outing at the Freaky Tiki gave me almost everything necessary to create Brian’s drink. All that really remained was what to put in it. Although the smoked concept ultimately didn’t fit Brian’s drink, it did find a home for Robert’s.

The in-game text describes the “Pineapple of Hospitality” drinks given to Brian and our Dad Avatar as being “rum drinks inside of hollowed out pineapples”. The bartender “sets them on fire” before we extinguish them and taste them. They taste like ‘victory’ and “Victory tastes fruity”.

At first, I tried building the recipe accenting flavors of butterscotch and mezcal smoke. I wanted to see if we could get a recipe that had elements of burnt toffee (since I was still convinced that Brian needed a smoke motif). My original notes said that “I’d like to preserve the flavor of butterscotch and candy while balancing the sweet and sour with a smoky finish”. I had a difficult time getting this to work. The sweet components of the drink conflicted a bit with the flavors of the Mezcal I was using (a Del Maguey Vida). I didn’t have other options available, so I switched directions with a bit of assistance.

My Dearest donated the idea that since Brian likes to fish we could add cherry vodka to give it a Swedish Fish flavor. Nice idea! Leaning into the molasses-forward rums and adding amaretto aligned the flavors much better. In retrospect, my decision to include most of the pineapple juice from the cored pineapple traded some flavor wiggle-room for a sense of sustainability (pineapples are really juicy!)

When the recipe was finished I did up the presentation in such a way that it pays homage to Brian’s particular style: A fan of orange peels for his red-haired beard; A green hibiscus flower cocktail umbrella for his shirt of the same pattern; A red cherry giving preview to the expected flavors sitting within the pineapple’s new liquid core.

And, of course, the whole gambit was set on fire with a float of 151-rum. Watch your pour if you’re planning on lighting ablaze! And don’t forget to extinguish it by blowing it out, or capping off with the spare pineapple head.

Flavor Analysis

A sweet and fruity drink indeed with prominent notes of cherry and sweet almond. The flavor from the included rums peeks through the sweetness adding subtle notes of molasses, ripe tropical fruits, and a hint of funk. The wafts of bitter molasses complement the Amaretto’s bitter almond sweetness very well.

Mixing in the high-proof rum (after extinguishing the pineapple, of course) amplifies the booziness, however, it remains rather concealed behind the drink’s powerful sweet fruit flavors.