Cocktail #16: The Hurricane

Happy tiki Tuesday! This week we have the ultra-simple (or so it seems) hurricane. 

Jeff Berry credits the hurricane to Pat O'Brien's Restaurant - an Irish-themed restaurant (which is still operating!) - in New Orleans, circa 1960s. This drink has become one of the most common exotic cocktails on menus around the world. I've ordered hurricanes before that neither looked nor tasted anything like this one. 

I believe this is the only drink in my little journey so far that only uses three ingredients:

2.00 oz. fresh lemon juice
2.00 oz. passion fruit syrup
4.00 oz. dark Jamaican rum (I used trusty old Myers's)

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with about 2 cups of crushed ice, shake until the shaker gets frosty, and pour, unstrained into preferably a 15-oz. hurricane glass (which I did not have, so I used a large Pilsner glass), and garnish with a drink umbrella (I "distressed" my umbrella because, well, it's a hurricane!) and a slice of citrus.

It had to happen some time - this is the first drink in 16 weeks that I really did not like at all. Not sure what happened - I measured carefully, though I bet my lemon could have been a little more fresh. Each sip started with a heavy taste of passion fruit, quickly followed by what I thought was overly sour or too much lemon. The rum was nearly lost between the passion fruit sweet and lemon sour. Each sip inspired a bit of a pucker. I suppose it's a good lesson - the simplest cocktails can sometimes be the most difficult to get right. One must ensure she is using the best, most fresh ingredients, and measure carefully.

I won't be making (or ordering) another one of these any time soon. So it goes - drink and learn!

Sticking with the hurricane theme, sit back and relax with a little Keely Smith as she sings "Stormy Weather." Cheers!