How To Make A Miami Vice

Can a spiked fruit smoothie be a classic cocktail? Yes… Yes it can. The Miami Vice is half Piña Colada, half Strawberry Daiquiri, and 100 percent delicious. Incorporating rum and an ensemble of fruit juices, this visually stunning frozen drink emerged somewhere out of Miami’s nightclub scene in the early ‘80s.

By many accounts, the cocktail predates the “Miami Vice” cop drama that first aired in 1984, but there isn’t any documentation of its creation. With the help of David Wondrich, the only early written mention of the cocktail we’ve found is from the concessions menu at the 1987 U.S. Open in Queens, N.Y. It reads, “At the Margarita Factory, they have something called Miami Vice Cooler, which is alternating stripes of Strawberry Daiquiri and Piña Colada — red, white, red.” Wherever it came from, it lives on as a beach bar staple.

The drink is typically served with the Daiquiri on the bottom and the Piña Colada on top, but there’s no wrong way to do it. You can pour them side by side vertically, weave alternating stripes, or just mix both cocktails together completely — though it certainly won’t look as cool. Flavor-wise, this cocktail is as tropical as they come. There’s a lot of fruit involved, so it’s on the sweet side, but the tart acidity from the Strawberry Daiquiri balances out the mix.

Miami Vice Ingredients

1 ½ ounces white rum
1 ½ ounces of aged rum
1 cup chopped strawberries
¾ ounce lime juice
½ ounce simple syrup
2 ounces cream of coconut
2 ounces pineapple juice
Garnish: pineapple wedge

Miami Vice Directions

In a blender, add 1 ½ ounces of white rum, the strawberries, simple syrup, lime juice, and 1 ½ cups of crushed ice.
Blend until smooth.
Pour mixture into a hurricane glass and set in the freezer.
Wash the blender.
In the blender, add 1 ½ ounces of aged rum rum, cream of coconut, pineapple juice, and 1 ½ cups of crushed ice.
Blend until smooth.
Pour mixture into the hurricane glass, layering the second cocktail on top of the first.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge.