While not part of the classic tiki drink canon, the Lava Flow rightly has fans of its own. Essentially, it’s a blended piña colada enhanced with a streak of strawberry purée, meant to evoke a flow of red-hot lava.
Though it’s unclear precisely where the drink came from, most agree it has tropical ties.
“It does not appear anywhere before the 1980s,” says cocktail historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. “The first time I ever saw one was at a tropical-themed steakhouse called Damon’s in Glendale, California.” He posits that the drink may be an offshoot of the ’80s-era Miami Vice (another drink with unclear origins, though some suggest it was first created at Miami’s beach bars), which swirls together a piña colada and strawberry daiquiri in the same glass, giving a similar visual effect as the Lava Flow.
Which came first: the Miami Vice or the Lava Flow? “There’s no evidence either way,” Berry says.
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Another theory holds that the Lava Flow was developed in Hawaii, also likely in the 1980s or early 1990s. Supporting this theory: an article written by the late Rick Carroll, a journalist who moved to Hawaii in the late 1980s and covered the drinks scene there. His 1993 article about “Hawaii’s Newest Tropical Cocktails” name-checks the Lava Flow: “It looks like red hot lava, tastes like a strawberry ice cream float and is so agreeable I had two before the sun
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
