Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (Smuggler's Cove)

This cocktail is aptly named after the brilliantly colored Hawaiian state fish. The cocktail itself is beautiful and flowers and fruit accent it. One of the best things about Hawaiian drinks is that there is no spirit native to Hawaii. So you can use a gin; you can use a gin from Virginia; you can even use ImaGination.

If you have the ingredients and a blender, this drink is easier to make than it is to pronounce.

• 2 oz. gin (Murlarkey ImaGination used)
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. orgeat
• flowers/ maraschino cherry garnishes

Combine all ingredients except garnishes in a blender with cracked ice. Flash blend and pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with flowers and cherry. 

Diamond Head

I'm not sure if this cocktail is named after the Hawaii volcano state monument on Oahu, but it is monumental. Look at that head of foam that tops this potent drink! Gin and apricot brandy with lemon  juice are a perfect combination you see over and over. Then there's egg white, which makes this cocktail a lot like a gin sour with apricot.

MurLarkey ImaGination gin is a good choice for this drink because it has a hefty botanical load that keeps things interesting where other gins would get overwhelmed by egg white and lemon juice.

• 2 oz. gin (ImaGination used)
• 1/2 oz. apricot brandy
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 egg white

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Outrigger

Outrigger canoes like those used by native Hawaiians have a secondary hull for stability. This recipe, however may make you less stable after you finish it. The recipe calls for gold rum, which is vague since color is not a good way to classify rums. When I see gold rum, I take it to mean a blend of aged and lightly aged white rum. I split the amount called for with equal parts 151-proof rum and white lightly aged rum.

Apricot liqueur and curacao are also nice tropical additions to this drink that, besides lime juice, is all hard liquor.

• 2 oz. gold rum (1 oz. Cruzan 151-proof rum and 1 oz. Cruzan aged white rum used)
• 1/2 oz. apricot liqueur
• 1/2 oz. curacao
• 1 oz. lime juice
• lime slice

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice. Garnish with the lime slice. 

Tropical Cocktail

It may seem antithetical to suggest a tropical cocktail that has no juices and is composed solely of liqueurs. But this drink succeeds in being tropical--a sort of liqueur Tutti Fruity with no actual fruit. It is also sweet, with creme de cacao and maraschino liqueur. That doesn't make it a bad idea. Just don't make it your first drink of the night. It is suited to a dessert, much like the liqueurs that compose it.

• 2 oz. creme de cacao
• 1 1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur (use Luxardo)
• 1 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Hawaiian Cocktail

Another cocktail that is almost a tiki--the only exception is that this one is made with gin and few fruit juices so it falls slightly short. Rather it is a fitting cocktail expression of Hawaii. Use either a dry or "wet" gin here, it won't matter since there's so much sweetness from pineapple and triple sec.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Honolulu Cocktail

The Honolulu Cocktail is pretty much a tiki cocktail. It is complex, tropical and bittersweet. The point, though was to do this in a cocktail glass so that it was fashionable or easy to do in a non-tiki restaurant. I've done it both up and in a tiki mug for this recipe. The difference is really just a matter of ice and garnishes.

• 2 oz. gin (Strange Monkey used)
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 tsp. lemon  juice
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• dash orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. For the tiki version, strain into a tiki mug full of crushed ice. Top with garnishes and flowers.

 

Hula Hula

As the name suggests, this is a tropical-themed drink. For some reason orange flavor is associated with Hawaii or the Pacific. More than likely this is a 1930s drink that used a commonly available fruit and triple sec to make a classic cocktail that tasted a little exotic.

Strange Monkey gin is pretty exotic too. There's a burst of fruit flavor behind the usual juniper gin flavor that reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum. I'm glad I picked this gin up!

• 2 oz. gin (Strange Monkey used)
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 tbsp. triple sec

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Aloha

Does this cocktail say "Hello," or "Goodbye?" We'll never know. What I do know is that vanilla ice cream looks great on top of a hurricane glass. I also know you don't need Amarula or a rum cream liqueur to make the Aloha. I just combined aged rum and half-and-half. The other rums and coconut do the rest of the work. 

The recipe also calls for ice cream to be added to the blender, but this is unnecessary and wastes the look of a scoop of ice cream. Putting it on top makes it like a garnish, and a good one for a frozen drink.

• 1 1/2 oz. rum cream liqueur (equal parts Cruzan aged rum and half-and-half used)
• 1 oz. dark rum 
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. coconut syrup 
• small scoop vanilla ice cream
• pineapple spear.

Put all ingredients except pineapple spear (and ice cream if you want to use it as a garnish) in a blender with ice and blend until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass. Garnish with pineapple spear (and ice cream scoop.) Pro tip: save pineapple leaves for the garnish as well.

Gin Aloha

The Gin Aloha is a triple sec-heavy version of the Hawaiian Cocktail, which is a gin, triple sec and pineapple juice drink. A full 1 1/2 oz. of triple sec means that much of the alcohol in the drink comes from what is typically a cheap, low proof liqueur on the bottom shelf in bars and stores. But using such a sugary spirit would ruin this drink, not to mention make it taste very bitter from the weak alcohol and artificial flavor.

That is why I recommend a quality triple sec like Cointreau, or in this case, Luxardo Triplum. It's twice as strong as cheap triple sec (80 proof), meaning it is about as strong as your gin. That makes this a 3 1/2 oz. 80-proof drink.

I used unsweetened pineapple juice squeezed from the fruit itself and a cinchona heavy orange bitters that tastes more tropical than a spice bitters for this Hawaiian cocktail.

• 2 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire used)
• 1 1/2 oz. triple sec (Luxardo Triplum used)
• 1/2 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
• dash orange bitters (homemade orange bitters used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.