So, we live in Colorado which is, without question, a semi-arid region of the US. So when it rains for two days straight, as it did on Friday and Saturday, it’s not a typical occurrence. Therefore, it seems exceedingly fitting that I should celebrate this rain by making a Hurricane cocktail.
The Hurricane cocktail arose from a glut of rum at Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans, Louisiana. The story goes that during World War II whiskey was in extremely short supply. As such to get any one had to purchase a huge amount of rum (as much as 50 cases) for each case of whiskey that could be bought. So, when faced with such an incredible surplus the bartenders at Pat O’Briens created the Hurricane. Named after the glass in which it was served, which mimics a glass hurricane lamp.
This cocktail is, in my opinion, very definitely a Tiki drink, although this may be questioned by some. The primary flavoring for the drink, beyond the rum, is Passion Fruit Syrup. Up until late last year there was a syrup marketed by Trader Vic’s that is said to be very good. It has since been discontinued though. So, I had to go it alone. Beachbum Berry gave the following suggestions on the Cocktail Spirit comments:
Looks like Robert was using the good stuff that Trader Vic bottled until late last year, which had 11% passion fruit in it. Now they sell an entirely artificial syrup that is no longer usable. Funkin and Perfect Puree both sell excellent passion fruit purees that, when mixed with simple syrup to taste, will give you a VG passion fruit syrup. Less expensive is to buy Goya frozen passion fruit pulp (sold at Latino markets), and mix the defrosted pulp 1:1 with simple syrup. Other good brands of ready made passion syrup: Tessiere, Finest Call, our Auntie Lilikoi (sold online from Hawaii).
Okole maluna!
By beachbum berry on 2008 02 05
So, my first goal was to get a hold of the Goya pulp that Jeff suggests which was also the suggestion of my Aunt Ronnie. Unfortunately, it seems that it’s not readily available in my area. The closest I was able to find at ny of the places I checked was Passion Fruit, Carrot, Apple juice. Since the passion fruit was the third ingredient on the list I didn’t think I’d be getting the right flavor from this product, so I again went searching. This time I headed to Denver to the Pacific Mercantile. The Mercantile is known for having a lot of Hawaiian food and I knew they’d have Hawaiian Sun canned juice. And, indeed they did. I picked up two cans of Lilikoi Passion juice and used that as the base for my syrup.
To make the syrup I poured the two cans (24 oz) of juice into a sauce pan and reduced by 2/3 to about 8 oz. I then added one cup of sugar and stirred to dissolve. The resulting syrup is pleasantly golden and very tasty. Granted I don’t think it matches the flavor that would come from passion fruit pulp, but hey, there’s always next Tiki week right?
The resulting drink, based on the recipe that Robert Hess gave in his video, is deceptively simple to make and nicely complex to drink. The Passion Fruit syrup adds a very exotic and unique flavor to the cocktail. I can see why these are still extremely popular at Pat O’Brien’s today. This is one that you should very definitely try if you can track down the ingredients.
The Hurricane
[Ingredients]
2 oz Dark Rum 1 oz Passion Fruit Syrup 1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
[Directions]
1) Combine ingredients in a shaker 2) Shake with ice to combine and chill 3) Serve in a Hurricane or pint glass (Collins glass in my case)