Wrapping up our three part series focused on passionfruit syrup in classic tiki cocktails is the Hurricane. You probably think of Hurricanes around Mardi Gras and New Orleans, or some other tropical destination, and as some bright red, fruity thing with a bit of rum. The fact of the matter is, it is from New Orleans (1940s from Pat O’Briens), but it’s only 3 ingredients, and more of muddle brown-orange kind of color. Like a hurricane that’s just gone through…
Hurricane
The Hurricane is sweet, tart, tangy, and boozy. The flavors of the black rum come to fruition in deep molasses and burnt caramelized notes with slight tropical funk. The lemon adds tanginess that brings an electric zing to the drink. The quality of the passionfruit syrup is critical here, deciding what tropical fruit notes come forth. With great passionfruit syrup comes a complex tropical mystique that works perfectly with the darkness of the rum.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
The Hurricane gets a bum rap for being the kind of drink that’s full of booze and crazy tropical fruit juices. In reality, this is a 3 ingredient cocktail were quality matters. In the event you don’t have a flash blender, feel free to shake hard with crushed or pellet ice. It will result in a similar outcome.
- Black Blended Rum – We used Gosling’s here as it’s one of our favorites. Feel free to use Kraken or another black blended rum.
- Lemon Juice – As always, we recommend using fresh squeezed for best results.
- Passionfruit Syrup – Passionfruit syrup is called for in several of the tiki classics, so it’s worth pre-planning to make it for all of them. In addition, Funkin syrup works best, and comes in a quantity you’ll want to separate and freeze (but also optimize for usage). We’ve included a link to the Amazon page as we find this is one of the best* and easiest passion fruit juices you can buy.
- How To Make Passionfruit Syrup: Create a rich simple syrup (combine 2 parts sugar to 1 part water). Heat until all sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool. Weigh the rich simple syrup to obtain the final weight. Combine with equal weight passionfruit puree. Bottle and refrigerate for up to 10 days. Leftover passionfruit puree may be frozen for later use.
- Flash Blender – We use a traditional Hamilton Beech (Amazon) flash blender here. This tool is a great investment for other drinks that include egg whites, are tiki drinks, or if you make milkshakes. The best part is they can be had at or under $50 and have common parts and a lineage as mixers.
* – These links are affiliate links that may result in First Pour Cocktails receiving a portion of the sale. These small contributions help us to bring you original cocktails and in depth reviews. As of writing this (August 2022), we operate at a loss, so please consider purchasing through our links if you want to help support the site!