Friday Cocktail: The Hurricane

It's Friday and I've managed to post four times this week (I am on a roll!) - both good reasons to have a cocktail. With Tropical Storm Karen due to pay us a visit this weekend,  I thought I might as well make it a Hurricane.

The Hurricane is one of those cocktails synonymous with New Orleans, but I know very few locals who drink them. The sickly sweet, brightly colored cocktails found on the tourist path are one of the quickest routes to a hangover. But my husband and I both thought there wasn't any reason that a Hurricane couldn't be good - it just needed a makeover, with better ingredients.

He won a cocktail competition with this version, redolent of passion fruit and rum, rounded out by a few drops of Black Strap Molasses bitters. The resulting cocktail is a more grown-up version, fruity and complex rather than simply sweet. It helps, too, that it contains Zacapa, one of my favorite rums.

The passion fruit flavor comes from a homemade syrup rather than the bottled versions that are generally available and the difference is discernable. Most prepared passion fruit syrups on the market are too heavy and sweet. The good news is that the passion fruit concentrate we use is readily available by mail order and yields a bright, fresh flavor that's useful for more than this cocktail. I highly recommend it.

Cheers!  Have a great weekend.

 

Hurricane:

1 1/2 ounces Bacardi white rum

1 1/2 ounces Zacapa rum

2 ounces passion fruit syrup (see recipe below)

1 ounce fresh lime juice

1 ounce fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon grenadine (see recipe below)

3 drops Bittercube Blackstrap Bitters

Shake all ingredients (except the Blackstrap Bitters) in an ice-filled cocktail shaker; strain into a Hurricane glass filled with ice. Add 3 drops Blackstrap Bitters and stir to combine. Garnish with a cherry and an orange slice.

Passion Fruit Syrup:

4 ounces Maguary pure passion fruit concentrate 
2 ounces water
3/4 cup sugar 

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil; stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Transfer to a glass bottle and refrigerate. 

 

Homemade Grenadine:

1 Quart POM Pomegranate Juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 ounces Pomegranate Molasses
2 teaspoons orange flower water
1 ounce vodka (used as a preservative, if you'll be storing the grenadine longer than 1 week) 

Simmer POM until reduced by half.  Add sugar, stir until dissolved, then add the pomegranate molasses, orange flower water, and vodka (if you're not using all of your grenadine at once).