Chris' New Orleans Style Hurricane

Mrs. O'DonnellWeb became a fan of hurricanes when we were in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago. We, of course, went to Pat O'Brien's to have a hurricane there. And then we left with no plans to go back, because the hurricanes there suck. They taste like a overly sweet generic Kool-Aid. (Note - the lighter red color in that image is what mine look like. It's not that dark Kool-Aid red of a Pat O'Brien's hurricane.)

However, the hurricanes at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop and Ticklers (same owners) are very tasty. I didn't actually drink one, I tasted my wife's but otherwise stuck to drinking locally brewed beer. So it was that hurricane she wanted me to recreate at home. The bars don't publish their recipes, however when I had commented to the bartender at Ticklers that his hurricanes were much better than Pat O'Brien's he replied that was because his were made with pomegranate juice, not the traditional passion fruit juice. I found another reference on the web to a Lafitte's bartender mentioning that they had 4 different juices in the hurricane. And that was all I had to go on.

As you would expect, there are a lot of hurricane recipes on the web. This seems to be the most common and most accepted hurricane recipe.

• 2 oz light rum
• 2 oz dark rum
• 2 oz passion fruit juice
• 1 oz orange juice
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 TBS simple syrup
• 1 TBS grenadine

Fill a shaker 1/2 full with ice, squeeze the 1/2 lime over the the ice, add the rest of ingredients, shake, and strain over crushed ice in a plastic cup. Garnish with a stemmed cherry and an orange slice. Nobody actually gets a hurricane glass on Bourbon Street, unless you pay extra for a souvenir glass. You drink out of a plastic cup, college bar style.

So starting with that recipe as a base I switched out the passion fruit juice for pomegranate juice, and since I needed a 4th juice based on what I read online, I added an ounce of pineapple juice, and skipped the grenadine since it is basically fake pomegranate juice. My first try was not nearly sweet enough, so on the second test I upped the simple syrup to 1.5 ounces. Michelle proclaimed that one good, so that was the first round. They were pretty good, but I thought the rum was too pronounced. After all, one the things about a Bourbon Street hurricane is that you can't really taste the rum. So for round two I reduced the rum to one shot of each, and Michelle proclaimed that hurricane damn close to what she was drinking in New Orleans. So my recipe as it currently stands is:

• 1.5 oz light rum
• 1.5 oz dark rum
• 2 oz pomegranate fruit juice
• 1 oz orange juice
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1.5 oz simple syrup

And now I'm ready for a Mardi Gras party at home.

If you have a better hurricane recipe feel free to share.