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Blue Hawaii Cocktail Recipe



Blue drinks get a foul rap nowadays. That’s a disgrace, as a result of the unique Blue Hawaii — a mixture of vodka, mild rum, pineapple juice, blue curaçao, lime juice, and sugar — is a scrumptious cocktail. Despite the fact that retro drinks from the Midori Bitter to the Cosmopolitan have made fashionable comebacks, brilliant‑blue cocktails stay uncommon on critical bar menus, nonetheless perceived as only a bit too cheesy for contemporary tastes.

Invented in 1957 by Harry Yee, the legendary bartender on the Kaiser Hawaiian Village in Honolulu (now known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Seashore Resort), the Blue Hawaii was created after a gross sales consultant from Dutch distiller Bols challenged Yee to create a drink that includes blue curaçao, an orange liqueur that had grow to be central to the corporate’s portfolio. 

Yee stays some of the vital figures of the twentieth century in drinks and is carefully related to the tiki cocktail motion. From his publish in Honolulu, the place he started bartending previous to Hawaii changing into a U.S. state, he grew to become a conduit for a lot of outsiders’ notion of drinks from the Polynesian Triangle. 

Paradoxically, most of Yee’s creations got here from his efforts attempting to manufacture a picture or synthetic feeling of a “Hawaiian cocktail.” Resort friends usually requested for a neighborhood drink, although Yee later stated its native distilled spirit, okolehao, tended to be too sturdy for vacationers, and cocktails weren’t significantly fashionable amongst locals. So, Yee invented drinks to offer the general public what they needed — a vacationer dream of Hawaii in a glass — which later formed mainland People’ notion of drinks tradition on the Islands, primarily based on truth or not.

Past the Blue Hawaii, Yee contributed a number of different vital cocktails to the tropical drinks canon, together with the Tropical Itch, Hawaiian Eye, and reportedly (although disputed by some) the Banana Daiquiri. Nonetheless, one in every of his most enduring legacies was because the bartender who popularized the miniature umbrella as cocktail garnish.

Why the Blue Hawaii nonetheless works

Ignore the colour for a second, and concentrate on the elements. The traditional Blue Hawaii follows an ordinary bitter template: blue curaçao provides sweetness whereas lime juice and pineapple juice deliver the acidic tartness that balances the drink. Vodka and rum are cut up, such that the impartial grain spirit tamps down rum’s earthy funk and permits the orange notes of the curaçao to come back by means of extra cleanly. 

Later riffs and imitations included elements like cream of coconut (usually known as a “Blue Hawaiian” vs. a Blue Hawaii) or different tropical juices. However the authentic Blue Hawaii is pretty easy regardless of its extravagant look — principally a moderately mild spirit base, punched up with pineapple juice and notes of orange and lime. 

Yee did name for a number of specifics, to make a correct Blue Hawaii. He insisted on Bols Blue Curaçao and favored a light-weight Puerto Rican rum. Although Yee’s authentic recipe known as for an oz of “candy and bitter combine,” we’ve damaged this ingredient into its recent part elements, utilizing equal-parts lime juice and easy syrup as an alternative.

How to make sure your Blue Hawaii comes out blue

If you happen to’ve ever tried to make a Blue Hawaii, it’s possible you’ll be aware that the ultimate drink comes out frivolously inexperienced —extra of a “Seafoam Hawaii.” That is from the yellow pineapple juice mixing with the blue curaçao. If you happen to’re aiming for an authentically blue hue, it could assist to permit the pineapple juice to settle, then pouring clearer juice off the highest into your combine. The blue will stay much less affected, although the pineapple notes could also be extra subdued. 

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