Hurricane Cocktail

More About This Recipe

• What’s more fun than an armload of shiny beads and a city full of revelers? A Hurricane Cocktail, that’s what! This punch-colored cocktail is synonymous with New Orleans, Mardi Gras celebrations, and merriment in general. The original Hurricane cocktail was concocted by Pat O’Brien in the 1940's as a way to use up surplus rum (whiskey and cognac were the preferred spirits of the time). Mr. O’Brien’s Hurricane was based on lemon juice and passion fruit syrup, and used an impressive four ounces of excess rum! Today, variations of the recipe abound. My all-time favorite Hurricane is concocted with passion fruit juice (or a passion fruit juice blend), orange juice, a squeeze of fresh lime, grenadine syrup (for the fiery hue!) and of course, our friend RUM. It’s a bit heavier on the juice than either the original or many of the modern versions, but still packs a whallop.
• My Hurricane recipe makes one large cocktail or two minis. Mix up Hurricanes for a crowd by making the recipe in the same proportions: 1 part of each of the rums, 1 ½ parts each of the juices and lime juice and grenadine to taste. For serving, the extra-large hurricane glass is the traditional barware for the cocktail. For my own entertaining purposes, I like to serve in either a tall, thin highball glass, or what I call a “mini-hurricane” (technically these are glasses from my sangria set, but they have all the right curves). The Hurricane is traditionally garnished with an orange segment and a maraschino cherry. I like to take it a step further and line up rainbow cherries on a skewer, and top with an orange segment – the cherries remind me of Mardi Gras beads. Toss in a silly straw, and your Hurricane Cocktail is ready to serve. Happy Mardi Gras!