Aruba Ariba: The Story and Recipe of Aruba’s Signature Cocktail

The Aruba Ariba is Aruba’s signature cocktail: vodka and rum shaken with crème de banana, Coecoei liqueur and a mix of tropical juices, finished with grenadine and a float of Grand Marnier. It was created on July 1, 1963, by bartender Juan “Jocky” Tromp at the hotel that is now the Hilton Aruba. Below is the story, a full recipe with measurements, and how the versions you’ll see around the island differ.

Where the Aruba Ariba came from

The drink has a clear birthday. On July 1, 1963, Juan “Jocky” Tromp created it at the Aruba Caribbean Hotel, the property now known as the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino on Palm Beach. He entered it in a bartender competition and won.

VisitAruba adds a detail to the story: Tromp, a former Carib bartender, was working as a bar-back at the hotel’s Bali Bar when he came up with it. So the island’s most famous drink was invented by someone who wasn’t yet running the bar.

Six decades later, it’s still the cocktail most associated with the island. The Aruba Tourism Authority calls it “without doubt the island’s most emblematic cocktail”, and it’s often served as a welcome drink.

What’s in an Aruba Ariba

According to VisitAruba, the original had vodka and white rum, crème de banana, Grand Marnier, fruit punch, and lemon, pineapple and orange juice with grenadine. VisitAruba gives no measurements for that version, and itself says the recipe “often varies”.

The ingredient that makes it Aruban is Coecoei, a red liqueur traditionally made from the sap of local agave (kukwisa) mixed with rum and sugar. It has a light anise flavor, and VisitAruba describes it as “only found in Aruba”. Grand Marnier is the standard substitute, and some recipes use both.

One point of confusion: Venezuela has a drink called cocuy with a similar name. It’s a different, distilled spirit made from another agave species, and it isn’t what goes in an Aruba Ariba.

Aruba Ariba recipe (with measurements)

This is the measured recipe published by VisitAruba. It makes one tall drink.

Ingredients

• 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz 151 rum (or the rum of your choice)
• 1/8 oz Coecoei
• 1/8 oz crème de banana
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup cranberry juice
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• Crushed ice
• A splash of grenadine
• Grand Marnier, to top
• Orange slice and a maraschino cherry, to garnish

Method

1. Add the vodka, rum, Coecoei, crème de banana and the three juices to a shaker with crushed ice.
2. Shake for one to two minutes.
3. Pour into a tall glass.
4. Add a splash of grenadine, then top with a little Grand Marnier.
5. Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry.

A note on the rum: 151 is overproof rum, far stronger than a standard bottle. The recipe allows any rum, and a regular white rum gives you a drink that’s easier to pace through an afternoon.

Tips for a better Aruba Ariba at home

The recipe is simple, but a few bartender habits make a noticeable difference:

• Use fresh juice where you can. Fresh orange and lemon taste brighter than carton juice. Pineapple and cranberry from a carton are fine.
• Measure the small pours. An eighth of an ounce of Coecoei or banana liqueur is a tiny amount. Too much and the drink turns syrupy.
• Shake hard with crushed ice. The long shake chills the drink and adds a little water, which softens the spirits.
• Add the grenadine last. Poured in after the drink is in the glass, it sinks and gives you the red-to-orange fade.
• Float the Grand Marnier gently. Pour it slowly over the back of a spoon so it sits on top, and the first sip smells of orange.

Lemon or cranberry? How the versions differ

Ask three bartenders for an Aruba Ariba and you may get three slightly different drinks. The published versions agree on the core (vodka, rum, banana liqueur, orange and pineapple juice, grenadine) but split on the rest.

Source	Third juice	Liqueurs	Other notes
Original (as described by VisitAruba)	Lemon, plus fruit punch	Crème de banana, Grand Marnier	No measurements given
VisitAruba measured recipe	Cranberry	Coecoei, crème de banana, Grand Marnier on top	Shaken with crushed ice
Aruba Tourism Authority	Lemon	Banana cream, Coecoei (Grand Marnier as a substitute)	White rum specified
Wikipedia	Lemon	Crème de banane, cucui (Grand Marnier as a substitute)	Served over crushed ice with a cherry

Lemon makes it tarter and brighter. Cranberry makes it a little drier and deeper in color. Neither is wrong.

What to use if you can’t find Coecoei

In Aruba, the Aruba Tourism Authority mentions The Arubian Taste in Oranjestad as a place that sells Coecoei. Back home it’s harder to find. VisitAruba suggests three substitutes:

• Passion fruit nectar, for a fruity, non-alcoholic swap
• Agave nectar, which nods to Coecoei’s agave roots
• Cherry brandy, which keeps the red color

Grand Marnier is the other common swap, listed as a substitute by both the Aruba Tourism Authority and Wikipedia. It shifts the drink toward orange rather than anise. If you want the real thing, pick up a bottle before you fly home. Our guide to Coecoei and Ponche Crema has more on the liqueur itself.

Where to drink an Aruba Ariba in Aruba

The Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino on Palm Beach is where the drink was born. We didn’t find a current menu listing it there, but it’s a fun piece of history to ask for one where Jocky Tromp first made it.

Surfside Beach Bar in Oranjestad serves what the Aruba Tourism Authority called “the famous Aruba Ariba” in a 2023 article. Surfside runs a happy hour with 50% off selected cocktails, so ask whether the Ariba is on the list. Our Aruba happy hour guide has the current times for Surfside and 27 other venues.

Wherever you order it, because recipes vary, it’s worth asking whether a bar uses Coecoei or Grand Marnier. The Coecoei version is the one you can’t easily get at home.

An alcohol-free Aruba Ariba

For anyone not drinking, the Aruba Ariba makes an easy mocktail because most of the glass is juice anyway. Leave out the vodka, rum and liqueurs, shake the orange, pineapple and cranberry (or lemon) juice with crushed ice, and finish with the grenadine. Passion fruit nectar, one of VisitAruba’s Coecoei substitutes, is a good addition in place of the liqueurs. Garnish it exactly like the real thing so nobody feels left out.

Other Aruban drinks to try next

Once you’ve had an Ariba, a few other drinks round out the island’s list. Balashi, Aruba’s national beer, is brewed with desalinated seawater. Ponche Crema is the rum eggnog that shows up at Christmas, and the Aruban Blast blends it with rum, coconut cream and banana. Our guide to Aruban drinks covers all of them, plus the island’s old rum shops.

Making Aruba Ariba for a group

The recipe above makes one large drink, and it calls for six bottles plus three cartons of juice. That’s fine for a single round, but it adds up fast if you’re hosting a villa full of people. If you want to scale it yourself, multiply every measurement by the number of drinks. For six drinks, that’s 3 oz each of vodka and rum, 3/4 oz each of Coecoei and crème de banana, and 3 cups of each juice, with the grenadine and Grand Marnier added glass by glass.

Keeping those two out of the pitcher matters: the grenadine is meant to sink and the Grand Marnier to float, and both get lost if you stir them into the batch. Keep the pitcher in the fridge rather than on ice, so it doesn’t water down, and give it a stir before each round because fresh juice settles. Pour over fresh crushed ice in each glass. Our guide to batch cocktails for a crowd covers how to keep a batched drink tasting fresh.

Or skip the shopping. We deliver pre-batched cocktail jugs mixed by a professional bartender to villas, hotels, homes, boats and beaches across Aruba, and an Aruba Ariba jug is part of our Beach Bash package, alongside Rum Punch, Margarita, Mojito and Piña Colada. That’s five jugs and 40 to 50 drinks, at a sample price of $350.

Each 1 gallon jug pours roughly 8 to 10 cocktails, is batched fresh the same day, and is best within 24 hours kept chilled. If you’d like more Ariba and less of something else, add a flavor swap in your booking notes and we’ll confirm it on WhatsApp. You can compare all the cocktail jug packages on our booking page.