With Mardi Gras festivities called off this year, it’s the perfect time to learn how to make the iconic hurricane cocktail at home. That being said, there’s a lot to this rummy cocktail and you’ll need one hard(ish) to find ingredient: Passion fruit puree. This key ingredient gives the cocktail a silken texture while adding a unique flavor that makes it, well, a hurricane.
You should be able to find a bottle of passion fruit puree at a good liquor store. In a pinch, you can always use passion fruit juice. But, you’ll be losing that silken aspect of the classic version of the drink. Of course, you can always get some passion fruit, de-seed them, and simmer it down into your own puree but that’s a bit much for what should be a fun and easy cocktail.
Other than that, this really is a pretty straightforward tropical shaker. That means a lot of rum, citrus, and sugar served in a big ol’ hurricane glass. It’s the ray of sunshine that’ll break through the bleakest winter days.
Let’s get shaking!
Hurricane
Ingredients:
- 2-oz. dark rum
- 2-oz. light rum
- 1-oz. fresh lime juice
- 1-oz. fresh orange juice
- 1-oz. passion fruit puree
- 1 barspoon simple syrup
- 1 barspoon grenadine
- Orange slice
- Luxardo cherry
- Ice
I like using freshly squeezes juices. You don’t have to do a whole lot. One regular lime will yield just about one-ounce of juice. So, I ten to squeeze the juice right into the shaker. Likewise, half an orange usually yields about one-ounce of juice too. Still, you can juice all of this separately, strain it, and measure it out while you’re learning.
One quick tip, usually this recipe calls for a bit more of the syrups. It’s already fairly well sweetened with the orange juice and passion fruit, so I tend to go a little easier on the syrups. But, if you want it a little sweeter, add more of the grenadine (an ounce is plenty) as that’ll also add color.
Lastly, there’s the matter of the rum. I’m using a dark and light rum I have on the shelf. That happens to be Appleton Estate Signature and Havana Club 3. I also make these with Goslings Black Seal in place of the Appleton. Then sometimes, there’s an over-proofed rum float that goes on top of the cocktail. This is already a pretty strong drink so I’m skipping the float. If you have an ovenproof rum on the shelf, I’m not stopping you from floating a shot of that shit over your cocktail. You do you.
What You’ll Need:
- Hurricane glass or pint glass
- Cocktail shaker
- Cocktail strainer
- Jigger
- Juicer
- Sieve
- Barspoon
- Pairing knife
- Cocktail stick
Method:
- Fill your glass with ice.
- Add rums, juices, puree, simple syrup, and grenadine to a cocktail shaker.
- Top up with ice, affix lid, and shake vigorously until outside of shaker is frosted over and ice-cold to touch.
- Strain the cocktail into the waiting glass.
- Spear an orange wheel with a cherry and drop it into the glass.
- Serve.
Bottom Line:
This is too easy to drink. Though, I did resort to using a straw. The fruitiness is the real bright spot of this cocktail. The citrus is sharp yet smooth thanks to that passion fruit. The rum is just there as a reminder you’re about to get pretty tipsy pretty fast (I’m not kidding … I had two of these and was feeling it).
In the end, this is a really good introduction to the wider world of tropical cocktails from the Pacific to the Caribbean and all points in between. If you can make this, you can whip up a zombie, Moonraker, or Mai Thai as well.
