Quick service tip before the story: the full ingredient list is right here, ready to order. Here's how this cocktail came to be.
The Barracuda was created in Italy in the 1960s, in the golden age of Italian tiki culture, when the country was reimagining tropical drinks with its own ingredients. The unusual combination of aged rum, Galliano and pineapple juice topped with prosecco created something halfway between a Mai Tai and a Bellini, an all-Italian compromise.
The drink owes its name to the barracuda fish, a reference to the craze for underwater cinema and Jacques Cousteau's early 1960s documentaries. Long a secret of specialized Italian bartenders, the Barracuda was officially added to the IBA list in the 2010s, earning international recognition as a small Mediterranean masterpiece.
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