Hurricane

Hurricane Cocktail in a hurricane glass with a distressed cocktail umbrella

Short shake with ice and strain into a hurricane glass almost filled with crushed ice. Top up with crushed ice and garnish with a cherry, an orange wedge and a distressed cocktail umbrella—it is a hurricane after all. (Alternatively it also works if served straight-up: shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.)

Like the Mai-Tai from the same decade, the 1940s, this drink has traveled far from its origins, though in the case of the Hurricane, it ends up as a decent, fruit punch, party drink. Like the Singapore Sling, however, no two recipes are the same. We got this recipe from a cocktail calendar but it is very similar to the recipe from The New Cocktail Hour so we merged the two. Among the various recipes for this style of Hurricane the big difference is whether pineapple should be admitted to the party. There are other similar drinks with pineapple, our recipe for Planter's Punch for example, so we leave it out here.

The drink has its origins not long after Prohibition in Pat O'Brien's Bar in New Orleans and even though this was an Irish-themed bar the drink became widespread on Tiki bar menus of the era. It was served in large glasses that narrow in the middle and thus resemble a hurricane lamp. Pat O'Brien ran an earlier speakeasy during Prohibition and there's also a story that the drink's name is a reference to the password used to gain entry: "storm's brewin'."

We use Plantation 3 Star for the light rum and Appleton Estate 12-year old for the aged rum. We also recently discovered Liber & Co Real Grenadine. While most grenadine these days is just artificially colored corn syrup, Liber makes theirs from squeezing actual pomegranates. It makes a big difference. (And it's a lot easier than microwaving pomegranate juice until half of it is gone—an alternative solution.) Traditionally, as a Tiki drink, the Hurricane should be served over crushed ice in a hurricane glass. However, since it is based on a fruit punch, we also find that it can be served straight up, strained into a chilled cocktail glass. We like both methods of serving about equally.

The Original Hurricane

Short shake with ice and strain into a hurricane glass almost filled with crushed ice. Top up with crushed ice and garnish with a lemon wedge and distressed umbrella.

This is the original recipe from Pat O'Brien's in New Orleans. It is a delightful simple sour with a bit of a bite coming from the citrus. The recipe comes via Jeff Berry's Beach Bum Berry Remixed (or his earlier Grog Log). Berry includes both aged rum and black rum in his definition of 'dark Jamaican rum' leaving the choice open. We have tried aged rum, Appleton Estate 12-year old, which works fine but is just too good for regular mixing. We have tried black rum, Gosling's Black Seal, one of the suggestions in Smuggler's Cove, but it lacks depth and has no aftertaste. Finally we settled on Plantation Original Dark—it hits the spot just right at a price that's clearly meant for mixing.

We compared the above recipe served up and served over crushed ice. The large amount of syrup in the drink served up was too intense and cloying. This is a drink that really does need to be served over crushed ice. The crushed ice serves to dilute the intensity of the syrup. To serve in a 15 oz hurricane glass increase the amounts in the recipe by 25%.