Stiggins Negroni: Another Amazing Use for Plantation Pineapple Rum

I have what I refer to as my “secret weapon” ingredients.

These are spirits or liqueurs that you can put in just about anything and they’ll taste amazing.

Banane du Bresil is one. Apricot liqueur is another.

But perhaps my favorite of all is Plantation Pineapple Rum.

If you’ve never heard of this before, you might be thinking “ugh, Pineapple rum?? Sounds like something a sorority girl would drink on spring break.”

Ooooh no, not that this rum.

Mostly because it’s you know, actually rum.

The History of Plantation Pineapple Rum

It was a collaboration between master distiller at Plantation Alexandre Gabriel, and well known drinks historian David Wondirich (make sure to check out his book Imbibe! if you haven’t already).

They named it after Reverend Stiggins from the Charles Dickins work the Pickwick Papers. Stiggin’s favorites drink was a pineapple rum, so here we are.

It was presented for the 2014 (I believe) Tales of the Cocktail convention, where it won best in show, and instantly became a favorite of bartenders in the know.

The first time I had it was at Canon in Seattle in 2016. They had a “Stiggins Daiquiri” on the menu, and this drink was nothing short of life-changing.

It was the best daiquiri I’d ever had, hands down.

“Where can I get this?!” I asked the bartender.

“It’s pretty tough to find, and expensive when you do.”

I returned home the next week to see that my local liquor store had 58(!) bottles according to the Oregon Liquor Search website. And it was only $30!

I immediately went down to check it out, and didn’t see it on the shelf.

Upon asking about it “oh, we generally don’t sell it to the public. It’s reserved for local bars that use it. But because you have good taste and asked about it, I’ll go sneak you a bottle.”

Fortunately, since then it’s never been that hard to find.

Unfortunately the price of it continues to go through the roof, as when I last checked it was up to $41 a bottle in Oregon.

Yet despite the rising cost, Plantation Pineapple Rum has been a staple in our home.

How to Make a Pineapple Negroni

An easy crowd pleaser at our house is the Pineapple Daiquiri, but I’ve been searching for more ways to use this wonderful rum.

There’s a drink in the NoMad cocktail book called a “Detox Retox” which is a crazy combination of Pineapple rum, blended scotch, coconut water, and cachaca among other ingredients.

But the more I thought about it, the more I was willing to bet it would work with a negroni if you played with the ratios a bit.

I’ve already got another negroni variation on this site in the Artsy Bird, which subs out Smith and Cross for the gin, and Cynar for the Campari.

I did a quick Google search for similar drinks to this, and found one that used equal parts vermouth, Campari, and plantation pineapple, but with Campari being such a strong flavor, I personally felt the need to play with the ratios to actually be able to taste the pineapple.

So after a few tests, I found that a 2:1:1 ratio worked the best for this drink.

You simply combine 1.5oz Plantation Pineapple Rum, .75oz Campari, and .75oz sweet vermouth over ice and then strain into a chilled coupe (or over a big rock if you prefer).

You can use any premium vermouth, I found I preferred Cocchi Vermouth di Torino over Carpano Antica Formula for this particular drink, but either work great.

Bottom line, if you’re looking for more uses for your new bottle of pineapple rum, or you’re a sucker for negronis and looking for another unique variation? You’ll love this Stiggins Negroni.

Looking for More Negroni Recipes?

We got you, here are some of our favorite similar recipes:

• How to Make a Negroni – The classic, simple and just about perfect.
• My Favorite Boulevardier – A negroni with bourbon, but we played with the ratios to make it even better.
• Artsy Bird – A funky “negroni-like” drink that is perfect as as nightcap.