13/02/2022
The Blue Hawaiian Classic Tiki Cocktail
The Blue Hawaiian is an enchanting rum cocktail which enjoys some repute not only as a summer cocktail, but also as a celebrated cocktail in the world of Tiki. Strikingly blue in color as its name suggests, the Blue Hawaiian is a cocktail that balances flavor and color perfectly, receiving both properties from one of its key ingredients, Blue Curaçao. And although the drink is a popular variation of the iconic Blue Hawaii cocktail and a kissing cousin to the Piña Colada, the Blue Hawaiian truly stands on its own, providing all those who enjoy the cocktail a liquid metaphor for summer paradise.
Ingredients
• Rum
• Cream of coconut
• Blue Curaçao
• Pineapple juice
• Crushed ice
Historical Origin
In 1957, Harry Yee, an avant-guard mixologist and bartender, created the Blue Hawaii cocktail at Honolulu’s Kaiser Hawaiian Village (Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Resort) (1). And while the drink shares its name with the Elvis Presley classic 1961 film, “Blue Hawaii”, the cocktail is actually named after the 1937 Bing Crosby song with the same name which was recorded for the 1937 Paramount Pictures film “Waikiki Wedding.” Immortalized once again in the movie starting Elvis years later, we have the Blue Hawaii and the Blue Hawaiian cocktails today thanks to Harry Yee’s passion for the music of Bing Crosby. The major difference between the Blue Hawaii and the Blue Hawaiian are the ingredients. The Blue Hawaii contains vodka, rum, Blue Curaçao and sweet and sour mix, while the Blue Hawaiian does not have vodka, and replaces sweet and sour mix with cream of coconut. While both are now Tiki cocktail staples, mystery enshrouds the Blue Hawaiian to this very day as to who spearheaded the cocktail’s creation. Was it Don the Beachcomber? Was it a bartender getting creative with a Piña Colada? Or was it the Lucas Bols Distillery, founded in 1575 in Amsterdam that argues to this day that they are the creator of Blue Curaçao and thus had a vested interest in creating more cocktails that used their liqueur. Regardless of historical origin, it is safe to say that that having two different delicious electric blue drinks is certainly better than one!
Review
Regardless of music, famous musicians, or food colorant, sipping a Blue Hawaiian immediately takes you away on a tropical taste-cation to the island chain it is so aptly named after. The cocktail, like the Piña Colada, also has intense flavor and aromatic notes. And thanks to the presence of a light (low congener) rum in the cocktail, the ingredients can express themselves both in flavor and color thereby presenting the Blue Hawaiian as a true work of art in the medium of mixology.
by Joel Lackovich, "Got Rum?" Publishers January 14, 2020
