Pieces of Eight – Cocktail Spotlight

• 1.5 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
• 1.5 oz Light Rum
• 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
• 3/4 oz Lime Juice

Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with crushed ice, give it a 5 second shake and dump the entire thing into your Chicago hi ball glass. Then, strain into a chilled coupe glass and serve! You can find the recipe featured in our AwesomeDrinks Recipe Database!

The History To Tell

The Pieces of Eight was designed in 1962 at the Pieces of Eight restaurant in Marina del Rey California. This signature named cocktail outlived the establishment itself, which went out of business in the 1970s. The restaurant had a nautical theme and delivered on the mythical ethos of the seafaring pirates and their legendary booty.

16th century trade was often done using the worlds first real currency: the pieces of eight. The coin was extremely popular because it was design from precious metals that held their value in physical weight. Of course, valuable coins were often stolen for the gain of pirates and other thieves. Why Eight specifically?

The coin could be split into eight separate equal-sized pieces and used as smaller monetary denominations. Pieces of Eight was efficient for merchants and traders because they could count the numbers out on their fingers (remember, very few calculators were around in the 16th century!) By 1581 these Spanish coins, known as the “peso”, “pieces of eight” and in the English colonies as the “dollar.” The US would go on to mold their “dollar” monetary unit by weight and name of this pieces of eight coinage. The initial prices in the New York Stock Exchange until 1997? 1/8th dollar denominations… just like the coin!

The next time you’re building out the Pieces of Eight cocktail for a friend, tell them the story of the infamous Spanish coin once known as “The Pieces of Eight” and how it became the basis for both a drink and the New York Stock Exchange.

Now, go get yourself a bottle of Liber & Co Tropical Passion Fruit Syrup and make this legendary cocktail for you and your friends. And, bookmark the recipe in our database.