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The Pineapple Buganda is a blended pitcher drink rather than a single serving, and that is the first thing to know before you start. Six ounces of white rum, two cups of fresh pineapple and half a cup of light cream fill four whiskey sour glasses, not one. The original recipe gives the glass in the plural and the volumes make it obvious, but it is easy to miss and end up with a very large drink.
The name points to Buganda, the kingdom that makes up a large part of southern Uganda, though the drink itself reads much more like a Caribbean blended cream cocktail than anything East African. What sets it apart from the pina colada family is what is absent. There is no coconut anywhere in it. The richness comes from light cream and the sweetness from brown sugar, which brings a molasses note that white sugar would not, and the vanilla extract ties those two together.
Fresh pineapple matters more here than in most recipes on this site. Two cups of it is the bulk of the drink, so canned fruit in syrup will push an already sweet cocktail over the edge and the texture will be softer than it should be.
The whiskey sour glass is a deliberate choice worth respecting. It is a small stemmed glass, and portioning a rich blended cream drink into four modest servings rather than two large ones is what keeps it drinkable to the end. Poured into tall glasses the same recipe turns heavy about halfway down. The mint and maraschino cherry garnish is doing real work as well, since the mint gives you something fresh and green against what is otherwise a very soft, sweet drink.
Glass: Whiskey sour glass | Strength: Medium | Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bartender’s tip: Four tablespoons of brown sugar is a lot, and how much you actually need depends entirely on the pineapple. A ripe one is sweet enough that you can cut the sugar in half and lose nothing. Blend the pineapple, cream and sugar first without the ice, taste it, then add the ice and blend again. Adjusting after the ice goes in is much harder because everything is cold and diluted and you cannot read the sweetness properly. Light cream is the right call over heavy, since heavy cream will turn the whole thing claggy against the fruit.
Ingredients
- 6 oz White Rum
- 1 cup (Crushed) Ice
- 2 cups (fresh) Pineapple
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup Light Cream
- 4 tbsp Brown Sugar
Steps
- Cut the pineapple into small pieces, enough for two cups.
- Combine with everything else in a blender until smooth and thick.
- Serve in whiskey-sour glasses and garnish with mint sprigs and maraschino cherries.
