The Miami Vice Drink
A Tropical Blend
The Miami Vice drink is a very colorful drink that combines a Piña Colada and a Strawberry Daiquiri. This frozen cocktail is red and white, like a delicious cherry beach blanket with dabs of sunscreen. This cocktail captures the essence of Miami’s sunny beaches, with its tropical pineapple, creamy coconut, and fresh strawberries all blended together! With one sip, you have literally been transported to a tropical oasis. It is pleasing to the eye and refreshing on a hot day, and that’s why you can find the Miami Vice on the menu of nearly any beach bar or summer party!
Background and Cultural Significance
Although cocktail research is dubious at best, our best guess points to the 1980’s as the original creation of this drink. Miami had a vibrant nightclub scene back in the day, and it is not surprising that the cocktail was likely meant to capture the naked excess of the era; neon colors, rolled-up blazer sleeves, and nights fueled by vice! Miami Vice was created to celebrate the spirit of the tropics, beyond its Floridian reference, and is well suited for those who are soaking up the sun and great cocktails with friends and family.
Servings and Time
Servings
This recipe for a Miami Vice drink makes two servings, making it perfect for sharing with a friend or enjoying by yourself on a lazy afternoon. If you want to make a larger drink to share, making the Miami Vice drink simply involves multiplying the proportions for the ingredients to have enough for your crowd.
Time Required for Preparation and Cooking
Prep time includes blending and layering takes approximately 15 minutes. No actual cooking time is needed since the Miami Vice drink is a blended and chilled cocktail. You can take an additional 15 minutes to chill the glassware in the freezer for presentation and temperature!
Ingredients for the Miami Vice Drink
Strawberry Daiquiri Ingredients
✅ 1 cup frozen strawberries
✅ 1 oz white rum
✅ 1 oz simple syrup
✅ ¾ oz fresh lime juice
✅ 1 cup crushed ice
Piña Colada Ingredients
✅ 1 ½ oz white rum
✅ 1 ½ oz cream of coconut
✅ 1 ½ oz pineapple juice
✅ 1 cup crushed ice
Instructions
Making the Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Layer
Let’s start with the strawberry daiquiri. In a blender, add the frozen strawberries, white rum, simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and crushed ice. Blend until smooth and a slushy type consistency is achieved. The tartness of the lime and sweetness of the strawberries should be mixed into a single flavor. Pour into your chilled hurricane glass and store it in the freezer to maintain the icey texture while making the second layer.
Creating the Piña Colada Layer
Make sure to rinse out your blender so you don’t have any flavors mixing. Add the white rum, cream of coconut, pineapple juice and crushed ice. Blend until creamy and smooth. You don’t want to blend it completely to water, you want it to stay thick enough to pour nicely. The creamy flavor from the coconut and tangy taste from the pineapple will give you the right velvety consistency, and is a core part of what makes this Miami Vice drink special.
Layering the Drink
Take the glass from the freezer and slowly pour the Piña Colada layer over the top of the strawberry daiquiri. You want it to layer, so tilt the glass a little bit to create separate layers. For a really nice layered effect you can pour the Piña Colada over the back of a spoon to slow it down and keep that really nice color distinction. A nice garnish would be a fresh strawberry or pineapple slice to give it a tropical feel.
Tips for a great Miami Vice drink:
Ingredient Quality and Substitutions
Real, fresh, high quality ingredients make the Miami Vice drink. Freshly squeezed lime juice has a much better taste. Bottled lime juice can taste overly sweet, so the flavour is a bit off. If you make this without alcohol, you can just skip the rum altogether, and substitute with coconut water or apple juice. For the strawberry daiquiri layer, you can use fresh strawberries instead of frozen, but you’ll want to add more ice. You need to keep that slushy consistency!
Layering Methods
Patience is a virtue when creating distinct layers! Pour very slowly and consistently to give yourself the best chance that your layers don’t mix together. If your layers mix a little, let it be! A swirled drink can still look quite nice. Also, chilling the glass will keep your drink cold. Doing so will help the texture of the drink, and how neat it showcases the layers.
Presentation and Garnish
Use hurricane or highball glasses to present the layers. You can garnish with a strawberry and/or a pineapple wedge. Mint sprigs are a good garnish too. Consider using a cocktail umbrella if you want a subtle reminder of your tropical escape. This is especially fun for parties that require some theming. Blend your ingredients with slightly less ice if you prefer a thicker mouth feel for your drink!
Nutrition Information
Calorie Breakdown
Roughly 320 calories per drink. Most calories come from the rum, cream of coconut, and simple syrup. There may be variations in your nutrition analysis based upon the brands and serving sizes of your ingredients.
Macronutrients
Total Fat: 5g / Saturated Fat: 4g / Cholesterol: 0mg / Sodium: 45mg / Total Carbohydrate: 55g / Dietary Fiber: 2g / Sugars: 49g / Protein: 1g;
The Miami Vice is a decadent drink with plenty of sugar from the cream of coconut and simple syrup.
A manageable way to lower your calories is by looking for sugar-free replacements or just add less simple syrup. You will notice there is no cholesterol and some lower sodium; so it is a reasonable guilty pleasure. Keep in mind, the Miami Vice drink is sweet—so drink responsibly.
Miami Vice Drink Description
Experience
What can be better than the ever de-lish and tropical delight, known as the Miami Vice drink? When combining the creamy, and nutty flavor of coconut with the bright and tangy juice from pineapples and strawberries, you can take your taste buds to an island getaway. The delicious strawberry daiquiri layer gives you a tart yet fruity punch while being complemented with the luscious coconut and pineapple in a Piña Colada.
Every sip takes you from the tartness of strawberry to a lovely combination of coconut and pineapple. The icy slushy texture is cool and refreshing, making for a great drink to sip down and temporarily forget life’s daily grind. Also, the classic Miami Vice drink looks incredible with the red and white layers that remind people of colorful sunsets on the beaches of Miami, which completes the sensory experience.
Best Occasions to Serve
There is no doubt that the Mai’ai Vice drink is beautiful and refreshing, making it a prime drink to serve at any summer get-together, such as pool-side barbecues, beach parties, and tropical luaus. Plus, its unique style and refreshing flavor will hit the spot with friends and family at casual gatherings or festive celebrations, like the Fourth of July, when the drink can match the red, white, and blue themes.
However, since the Miami Vice drink provides a retro trip back to the 1980s Miami, you could enjoy it during quiet evenings as well. So whether your event is based on a cruise to a Caribbean island with fruity tropical sonic tunes or a relaxing evening backyard event, the Miami Vice drink will have your guests feeling like basking in the sunshine.
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