The Blue Hawaii drink was born in Honolulu at the Hiton Hotel Waikiki resort back in 1957. In the days where Elvis and Tiki cocktails were well assimilated into the culture. A long story short the Dutch distiller Bols got legendary bartender Harry Yee to design a drink featuring Blue Curacao- a Caribbean liqueur made with the dried peel of the Laraha citrus fruit.
The blue cocktail featured blue curacao mixed with rum vodka pineapple and sweet and sour (lime simple syrup) served over ice. The drink is easily recognisable for its signature blue colour pineapple wedge and cocktail umbrella.
I was lucky enough to be on holiday in Hawaii recently and stayed at the Hilton Hotel where this iconic drink originated from. Over the 2 weeks stay I observed three versions of how to mix up this blue cocktail. On board the cruise ship Pride of America at Pinky’s Bar all the ingredients including ice were put into a Boston shaker and mixed by pouring the liquids and ice from one cup to the other a couple of times to gently mix the cocktail then poured straight into a hurricane glass and garnishing with a pineapple wedge and umbrella. Easy!!
At the Tapa bar at the Hilton the cocktail was shaken with ice for about 3 shakes then strained into a tall hurricane glass filled with ice. At the Tropics bar it was prepared with a blender and served up as frozen alcoholic slushie. All versions taste great, but I have to admit the slushie version was extra refreshing on a steamy afternoon in Hawaii.
Back at home I was excited to recreate this iconic blue drink with a Botanikos version of the Sweet and Sour. The most important ingredient for this cocktail was the most difficult to obtain and I had to hunt around town before I found the last two bottles of Bardinaet Blue Curacao at Dan Murphy’s.
Whew, so here are my versions of the Blue Hawaii cocktail and mocktail
Cocktail Ingredients:
- 15 ml Blue Curacao
- 25 ml Vodka (Absolute)
- 25 ml Rum (white Bacardi)
- 30 ml Lime Simple Syrup
- 90 ml Pineapple Juice (H2 juice with no added sugar)
- 1 cup ice
- Pineapple wedge
- Paper cocktail umbrella
Instructions
- Add ice to cocktail shaker
- Pour over liquid ingredients
- Shake three times
- Pour ingredients into a hurricane glass
- Garnish with pineapple wedge and umbrella
Mocktail Ingredients
- 2 TBS Blue Heaven Jelly (Aeroplane)
- 30 ml hot water to dissolve
- 75 ml Pineapple juice
- 30 ml Lime Simple Syrup
- cup ice
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender
- Blitz until smooth and frothy
- Pour into a hurricane glass
- Garnish with pineapple
- Serve with a straw