Famous like few others – the Hurricane cocktail is said to have been invented in the 1940`s at Pat O`Brien`s bar who simply needed a new cocktail to get rid of surplus rums when whiskey was scarce during and after World War II, but was originally very different from what they serve now — it was rum (half light, half dark), passion fruit juice and lime (2:1:1) They served it in a glass that was shaped like a hurricane lamp and so the drink got its name.
During the prohibition of the 1930s the bar was known as “Mr. O’Brien’s Club Tipperary” and a password was required to get inside of the establishment. Its since then one of the most popular drinks in the french quarter, especially among the tourists.
The extremely sweet and red Hurricane you get at Pat O`Brien`s today is not what once was served and what you get when mixing it up with all natural ingredients and it uses the powder-mix containing chemicals and artificial color.
Still i think its something you should try when in New Orleans – it´s one of those things you just have to do bec if you don`t you simply have n´t been to New Orleans….and it actually does have a charm of it´s own.
Also Pat `O Briens is a fun place to go to with it`s beautiful fire fountain in the courtyard – and don`t forget the piano bar with their legendary copper pianos and lively dueling piano players singing with the people through the night with that joyous New Orleans spirit floating through the air – it´s great fun!
That Hurricane you get at Pat O`Brien`s will also creep up on you and get you pretty drunk if you drink too many too fast as it contains plenty of rum so be careful.
As for the Hurricane-mix…the Hurricanes made with it is one kind but it´s not the original kind and many are they who believe this powder-mixed drink ís what makes a real Hurricane. Chuck over at Gumbopages also wrote about this in an excellent post.
Made with natural ingredients and homemade grenadine you get a very different and much nicer cocktail and if you play with the rums you can have some fun. I use a passionfruit juice and some passionfruit syrup as well. This drink with rum, lime, sugar, passionfruit juice and grenadine is actually close to the Daiquiri.
To this nothing but homemade grenadine will do for me – and as its so easy to make that i always have it. I often add a handful of dried hibiscus flowers to it as well – it gives a very tasty and fresh tropical tang. So equal parts water and sugar plus the seeds of two pomegranates (or have èm juiced) and if you will – a handful of hibiscus – bring to a boil and then take off the heat – add the fresh seeds of one half of the two pomegranates, mash it up a bit and leave to cool. But if you want to be really authentic – leave out the hibiscus flowers;-)
I made a batch today as i was out of grenadine and the pomegranates are in season now so there`s plenty of large ripe red pomegranates from Morocco out there and they taste so fresh! I need to buy 3 when i`m gonna use 2 because i eat up too many of those ruby-red sparkling seeds that not much would be left for my grenadine.
Let stand for a few hours so the flavor settles, then strain and bottle. Keep in the fridge, it lasts about a month or more. There`s no reason to buy commercial grenadine unless you can`t find fresh pomegranates. But as a basic rule with both drink-mixing and cooking, always use the best and freshest ingredients possible.
Here´s two recipes of the Hurricane, one is the basic one and the other the common recipe today.The Hurricane on the pictures is made with the common recipe.
Basic recipe:
1.5 oz light rum
1.5 oz dark rum
1 oz passionfruit juice or syrup
¾ oz lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a Hurricane glass filled with ice.
Common recipe:
1.5 oz light rum
1.5 oz dark rum
1 oz orange juice
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 cup passion fruit juice, or 1 tablespoon passion fruit syrup
1 oz simple syrup
1 teaspoon grenadine
Stemmed cherries, and orange slice to garnish
Ice cubes – i prefer cracked or crushed ice here.
Half fill a Hurricane glass with crushed or cracked ice (or ice cubes) Shake all ingredients and strain into the glass. Fill up with more ice if needed and garnish with an orange slice and stemmed cherry.
Now i didn`t have any cherry today or an orange slice so i used what was left of the pressed orange and a lime wedge instead.
On the famous pics of the cocktail blogging crew (well part of it) below from Tales -08 and-09 (sorry guys but these pics are awesome…) you can see the Hurricane cocktail as being served at Pat O`Briens and how deeply red the color is.
The fountain at Pat O`Brien`s.
Ah…interesting Art! when I wrote the post back in 2010 I searched all over for the original recipe and found a recipe used on the GumboPages, http://looka.gumbopages.com/2010/05/08/the-original-hurricane-cocktail/ and a similar one on some place I cannot remember. At that time I can`t remember seeing anything anywhere about Fassionola. After that I saw Fassionola being mentioned in old tiki drink recipes.
Passion fruit syrup was added by Berry as a substitute for Fassionola. However, this is wrong. The original drink was RED and included Fassionola. Any old timer bartender will tell you this. The original recipe was 4 oz of gold Puerto Rican rum, 2 oz of Fassionola, and 2 oz of lemon juice. Everyone knows the original Hurricane was red. Passion fruit (in any way, shape, or form) had nothing to do with the original 1940s recipe. The original drink was nothing special and by today’s standards pretty much sucks. However, the history of how this drink came to be will leave you a clue; it was designed to be rum-heavy and to get rid of the spirit as quickly as possible (hence the original 4 oz pour) which was dressed up with sweetness and color (Fassionola) to appeal to customers to sell quick out the door. Nothing against passion fruit syrup, but any Hurricane without Fassionola is a deviation of the norm.
Your recipe is quite close to the original recipe that i got which uses passionfruit juice or syrup instead of a mix, plus grenadine is added. I believe the use of a mix came later…and the reason for using mixes is of course to cut costs.As for the use of grenadine in this drink, i have no idea when it started to be added but my guess is that a red drink sold better. Today the drink is very red and uses the mix. That drink is so different from one that use fresh ingredients.
When I went to Pat O’Brien’s in the early- to mid- ’70s, I asked the bartender for the recipe to fill my souvenir glasses.
It was:
fill glass with ice (of course)
3 oz. light rum (I used Bacardi Silver)
3 oz. dark rum (I used Meyer’s)
1-1/2 oz. 151 rum (I used Bacardi)
fill remainder of glass with Pat O’Brien’s passion fruit juice mix (about 3-4 oz.)(first I used the P.O’B. label, or I used the Jero’s brand — probably their supplier)
This recipe tasted just like the ones I got there at the time.
Now assuming the mix had lime juice, simple syrup and grenadine in it (it didn’t have any orange taste), why has the recipe that Pat O’Brien originated changed and why are there so many variations out there?
I know this is an old post, but still good. I always will learn, and your site is one of the best to teach and explore in, whether in the present or past. In fact, someone else’s blog was covering the Hurricane, and you commented on it, saying you wrote a post on the drink. So I hunted for it on your site. Can you guess what I’m making myself tonight?
Probably pouring that unstrained will give a little more “goo” to it;-) some tikidrinks are shaken, or blended and then poured unstrained.
As for a commercial syrup i think Monion is the best brand and yes, NK has a little selection there. Far far from the whole range but the best in the city i believe. Otherwise you can always check in Monin´s webpage, decide which flavors you would like and go down to Stockholms Glasshus just beside TikiRoom/Mellowbar and order them. At least i did that a few years ago so it may have changed.That was before i started to make my own syrups.
Thank you for the clarification, Tiare! I will try your recipe and see if I can create something tastier then with the Monin syrup!
BTW, the recipe for a Hurricane in the Beachbum Berry´s new “Remixed” only calls for 4 oz dark Jamaican rum with 2 oz each of passion fruit syrup and lemon juice. He also think it should be poured unstrained (!) in the glass and adding more ice to fill.
PS: I any other lost Swede would happen to read this and want to try the Monin syrup before making their own, the food store at NK in Stockholm actually have a great selection (it´s on the top shelf by the soda)!
Hello!
I made a post about passionfruit syrup check it out here:
http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=4941
i use about 1 liter of simple syrup to maybe 5-6 small passionfruits or 4 large, something like that..
I just cut them in two and scoop out the seeds.I get questions concerning syrups quite regularly and so i`m pondering making a page just for links to my posts on syrups.
Good Luck!
Dear Tiare,
Thank you for a great blog! I read the entire thing with great interest (having just started to take my first steps into the wild and wonderful world of Tiki) before I realised that you also was a fellow countryman! Long live Systembolaget (and its great selection)! 😉
One quick question concerning the above response… I have tried the Monin Passion Fruit Syrup (bought from http://www.barkonsult.se/) but are a bit disappointed with the artificial taste.
Could you please elaborate on your recipe for making your own? How much simple syrup do you use for 3-4 passion fruits? Do you press or chop up the fruits before adding them to the boil?
S&R – when i reach the Hurricane in Grog Log i`ll actually use my Coruba;-)
Tony, we sure had a great time;-)..we`re soon back – but no Hurricane this time;-)
When i make passionfruit syrup i just take 3-4 passionfruits and add them to a simple syrup, let boil a little (about 4 min) and cool and strain.A good idea is also to add a fresh passionfruit to the mixture when its time to cool so it adds a bit of a fresh, un-boiled taste as well.
T
When we where last in NOLA I bought one Pack of the mix for Pat O´ Brians hurricane for a prank, just never had the guts to actually do it.
Although the cocktails at Pat O´s sucked, we had a great evening and got that picture to prove I dared that hurricane!
OH … The things you gotta do when you are touristing…
Do you have any nice recipes for homemade passion fruit syrup?
I knew your “Common Recipe” rang a bell, and in cross-checking it I see it’ Chuck Taggert’s outstanding Gumbo Pages versions, but heavier on the sweetener. Chuck calls for a mere 1 tsp of superfine sugar. When I split the difference between your two recipes and use ~ 1 tbsp., it tastes about perfect.
Another nice thing about this version compared to Grog Log is it doesn’t use up the Coruba nearly as fast!
That recipe in the Grog Log is quite different in therms of strength, and i don´t know how the “common” recipe has emerged, maybe someone else reading this knows?
As for the “1 simple” it should be 1 oz, i had missed that and have added it now, thanks!
I wonder how this cocktail would be with Smith % Cross?
Cheers!
Also. . . your “1 simple syrup” in the common recipe. I’m assuming that’s 1 oz, but maybe not? Anyway, I just mixed up your common recipe, assuming 1 oz on the simple which makes an overall nice hurricane that might be just a bit too sweet by the time I reach the bottom of the glass. Very nice interpretation of the drink though!
Thanks for the background on this iconic drink, Tiare.
Historically, do you know how/when your “basic” recipe emerged and how it squares with the high-octane, 2 oz lemon juice, 2 oz passionfruit syrup, 4 oz Jamaican dark rum Grog Log version that purports to be an authentic take on the Pat O’Brien’s original? That version was an intense experience when I first tried it early on in my rum education, but now It’s the version I immediately think of when I think Hurricane.
A version I had sworn by for several years that is very similar to your “Common Recipe” is a recipe I actually first saw printed on a T-shirt for sale in a Florida tourist shop. It’s still in one of my cocktail notebooks marked as “Hurricane, T-Shirt Version”.