Blue Hawaiian

This week’s cocktail is another one of my personal favs, the Blue Hawaiian, not to be confused with the Blue Hawaii, and neither of which to be confused with the Elvis Presley movie. This is in my opinion the quintessential “kitschy” drink. After all, it’s blue, it’s got pineapple and coconut, and if I serve it, it’s got an umbrella. The taste is cool fruity and refreshing. There is no strong alcohol burn to work through. Like I said it’s one of my favorites, I love to drink it, I love to make it, but most of all I love to serve it. When you give someone one of these, they feel special. It’s a fantastic tropical vacation in a glass, and I get to be the tour guide. For me, that is what bar tending is all about.

As I mentioned before the Blue Hawaiian and the Blue Hawaii are 2 distinct different cocktails. The Blue Hawaii was created by Harry Yee head bartender of the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki in 1957 when he was asked by a sales representative for Bols to create a drink to promote their new Blue Curacao. The drink also included pineapple, rum and vodka. While there is speculation that the Blue Hawaiian which uses coconut creme and no vodka is a variation on Harry Yee’s original Blue Hawaii, one is hard pressed to find evidence of this or to find an origin of the much celebrated coconutty concoction. For now, suffice to say, there are 2 different cocktails, they both have a rum base with pineapple and blue curacao. And the Blue Hawaiian is the best!

Ok, so lets get this big blue elephant out of the way shall we? What is blue curacao? Curacao is a liqueur flavored by the dried peel of the laraha fruit grown on the island of Curacao. Laraha is a cousin to the Valencia orange. But no, sad to say it is not “blue” in color. The coloring of blue curacao comes from just that...coloring. Curacao is essentially colorless, but you will often find Orange Curacao, and Blue Curacao sold in most liquor stores. And if you’re drinking something with the word “blue” in the title, it likely contains blue curacao.

Blue Hawaiian

1 1/2 Oz Spiced Rum

1 Oz  Coco Real

2 Oz Pineapple Juice

1 Oz Blue Curacao

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In mixing glass Add Rum, Coco Real, Juice & Blue Curacao

Add ice and shake till frosted, then shake some more

Strain into Mixer Glass with Ice

Garnish with Cherry / Pineapple spear with umbrella

2 Straws

Alrighty, let’s build the cocktail. In a mixing glass pour  1 ½ oz Spiced Rum. While most recipes for the Blue Hawaiian call for a light rum, I prefer to use the spiced rum as it gives more of that tropical exotic flavor. Now understand, besides the slight alcohol content of the blue curacao about 30%, there is no other alcohol in this cocktail. Okay, we got the spiced rum, now add 1 oz Blue Curacao.

The Cream of Coconut is the key ingredient as far as the flavor of this drink, and it’s important to use the right stuff. This is not coconut milk, or coconut water, or syrup. Nor do I recommend using coconut flavored rum. I do love coconut rum, but to use it here would add way too much booze to your drink, and you would lose the creamy texture that makes this cocktail so unique. The product I use is called Coco Re’al. It contains real coconut, not just coconut milk, and it comes in a nice easy squeeze bottle which makes measuring and pouring much easier than a canned coconut cream and it does not require refrigeration. So, to the mixing glass add 1 oz Cream of Coconut or Coco Re’al.

Finally, you want to top this off with 2 oz Pineapple Juice. Add your ice and shake it somethin serious. I say this because you really want to work the Coco Re’al into the cocktail. Strain into a rocks glass with ice and garnish with a cherry / pineapple spear....with an umbrella. My friends, it's vacation time!