Barracuda

A sparkling tropical cocktail featuring gold rum, herbal Galliano, and pineapple, topped with Prosecco for an elegant effervescent finish.

The Barracuda was created by Italian bartender Benito Cuppari in the late 1950s while working aboard the MS Cristoforo Colombo, the Italian ocean liner that entered service for the Italia di Navigazione shipping line in 1954 on the Genoa–New York transatlantic route. Cuppari refined the recipe in 1965 aboard the SS Michelangelo — the flagship Italian liner launched in 1965 that was considered the most beautiful of the postwar Italian ocean liners — naming the cocktail after the Barracuda beach club in Portofino, the exclusive Ligurian resort village on the Gulf of Tigullio whose combination of yacht culture, luxury tourism, and international celebrity visitors made it a symbol of la dolce vita Italian glamour. The Barracuda — a combination of white rum, Galliano herbal liqueur, pineapple juice, a squeeze of lime, and a splash of prosecco — won the Long Drink category at the 1966 AIBES (Associazione Italiana Barman e Sostenitori) National Competition held in Saint Vincent in the Aosta Valley. The competition win established the Barracuda's credentials in the Italian professional bartending community, and it subsequently spread to international menus. The IBA includes the Barracuda in its official New Era Drinks category, cementing its recognition as a contemporary classic.